Isco has been a key part of Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid zigsaw in recent weeks, but failed to grace the pitch at the Bernabeu on Saturday in what was undoubtedly Real's biggest game of the season to date.
The Spaniard is no stranger to big games, having started in the UEFA Super Cup against Manchester United, the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup against saturday's opponents Barcelona, the La Liga clash with city rivals Atletico Madrid, the two Champions League games against Tottenham and the Club World Cup final against Gremio, but was surprisingly dropped for El Clasico.
The thinking behind Zidane's decision was that Real would stand more chance of winning if they could stop Lionel Messi. With that in mind, the Frenchman opted to play deploy Mateo Kovacic in a man-marking role, with the Croatian charged with following the Argentine star wherever he went.
With Zidane needing to find a space in the starting XI for Kovacic, he opted to drop Isco.
The Real Madrid boss insists he doesn't regret his decision, though it's fair to say that it didn't go exactly to plan.