Isco refused to carry on warming up after Nacho brought on - SER
When Zinedine Zidane brought on Nacho Fernández, Isco reportedly stopped his warm-up and returned to the bench, despite his introduction still being a possibility.
Before Dani Carvajal was sent off for a goalline handball and Leo Messi converted the resulting penalty to put Barcelona 2-0 up in El Clásico, Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane had two substitutes stripped and ready: Marco Asensio and Gareth Bale.
However, Zidane was forced into a hasty change of plans by the 63rd-minute turn of events in Saturday's LaLiga clash, bringing defender Nacho Fernández on for Karim Benzema to fill the hole left by Carvajal at right-back, with the proposed introduction of Bale and Asensio left in limbo.
And according to the Spanish radio station Cadena SER, it was then that Isco - whom Zidane had left out of the line-up in favour of Mateo Kovacic - decided to stop warming up with Real's fitness coach, Antonio Pintus, and made his way back to the bench, where Bale and Asensio were still awaiting further news.
Isco being brought on apparently still possible
Isco's return to the dugout may prove to be controversial, says SER, as it appears to have been a unilateral decision by the midfielder at a time when a change to Zidane's chosen substitutes that might have seen him thrown on was seemingly still a possibility.
Finally, Bale and Asensio did come on in the 72nd minute - with Isco remaining on the bench - as Barça claimed a 3-0 victory at the Bernabéu.
Isco denies reports on social media
Isco took to Twitter post-match to deny the claims, writing: "Stop spreading shit, my other two team-mates [Asensio and Bale] were [still] going to go on... Since when can you make four substitutions?"
