Debunking the Myth of “Isco’s Missing Minutes” – A Deep Dive Analysis

The Mythical Status of “Isco’s Missing Minutes”

It is so widely agreed upon that Isco isn’t getting enough game time, that “Isco’s missing minutes” comes to be used almost unthinkingly, with almost no reference to the number of minutes that he is actually getting relative to other players.

I worry, therefore, that the problem of Isco’s missing minutes has garnered a certain mythical status amongst the Madrid faithful.

To say that the narrative surrounding “Isco’s missing minutes” is a myth is not, as the term myth is commonly understood, to imply that it is false. Many potent cultural myths are based in fact.  Instead, a myth is any oft-repeated tale which has taken on a certain symbolic significance that transcends the meaning of the story itself.

It is far beyond me to argue that Isco isn’t getting as many minutes as he might at another club. Nor would I ever suggest that he wouldn’t be better served by getting more playing time.

My problem with the myth of Isco’s missing minutes is that it tends to function in service of hyperbolic narratives about the club which often don’t match up to reality.

For Madrid fans, the broader symbolic significance of “Isco’s missing minutes” is primarily about failure – the failures of Zinedine Zidane to successfully integrate the talented young players in his squad, the inherent failure of any tactical system without an in-built role for a classical no. 10, the failures of (insert given fan’s scapegoated player of choice) to justify their starting spot over Isco, and the failures of Florentino Perez’ Galactico policy which privileges flashy foreign stars like Ronaldo and Bale over hard working Spaniards like Isco.

For the press, and perhaps even Isco himself, the myth of “Isco’s missing minutes” has been used as rhetorical leverage to stir up fears about losing Isco to a club that would presumably give him an unquestioned position in their starting eleven.

It exists in the same discursive universe which holds that Isco would simply walk into the starting lineup of any other major club in Europe, including the Catalonian rivals, FC Barcelona.

Rather than allow this myth to persist unquestioned, I feel it is time to give Isco’s lack of minutes a more thorough critical analysis. What is the truth behind this myth? Has Zidane really made an immense error in denying Isco minutes? Has he so seriously underplayed Isco that the only logical response is for the Spaniard to move onto greener pastures?