Real Madrid defender Raúl Asencio fined and banned from driving for drink-driving

Raúl Asencio accepted an €14,400 fine and an eight-month driving ban after being caught driving under the influence of alcohol on Spain’s Gran Canaria island.

A judge held a fast-track hearing on Aug. 19, where the Real Madrid defender acknowledged the offence, accepted the sentence requested by prosecutors and expressed regret. Traffic officers had stopped him at 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 16 in the south of the island while he was driving a Porsche Macan GTS.

The two breath tests showed readings of 0.90 and 0.88 milligrams of alcohol per litre of exhaled air. Spain’s legal limit is 0.25 mg/l. Driving becomes a criminal offence once the reading exceeds 0.60 mg/l, rather than a traffic violation handled with a fine and penalty points. Another person in the car took over driving after officers confirmed that person was fit to do so.

The sentence became public a day before Asencio was due to appear before a criminal court judge in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in a separate case involving a sexual video allegedly recorded in 2023 by three former Real Madrid academy teammates. The two young women who filed the complaint are expected to confirm that they forgive Asencio for showing the images to another person after receiving them on his phone. He has apologized privately and paid them compensation.