It was harsh for Isco to be named a sub for the Clásico.

He wasn't expecting it. On Friday, he believed he would be playing and that the one left out would be James. But things turned out to the contrary and Isco in some respects feels betrayed by Benítez. He did not go to join the Spain squad because of a few slight injuries, and with his thoughts on playing against Barcelona. He had some spectacular performances during training and his teammates noted that he was well in with the manager. James had been out for two months injured and was playing for Colombia, thousands of miles away.

However, once again Isco came up against the fact that he is not an automatic choice at Real Madrid, and he is starting to think that he never will be. He believes he was good enough to have started against Barcelona.

More than one of his colleagues in the Real Madrid dressing room say that he lost control against Neymar after the excessive warm-up he had done after being so long on the bench. He lost his nerve and collected a straight red card after kicking the Brazil star. The Bernabéu gave him an ovation for this; the Real Madrid supporters adore him, but becoming the automatic first-choice still eludes him.