Zinedine Zidane made the surprising decision to play Mateo Kovacic in place of Isco to strengthen the Real Madrid midfield.

But after a strong first half display his side were repeatedly ripped apart on the counterattack by Barcelona in a 3-0 defeat.

Ramos was asked why Isco didn’t play in the mixed zone after the match - to which he pointed out that Kovacic can stop Messi, and playmaker Isco could not.

The boss’ plan failed to work, though, and Real are now 14 points behind their arch rivals.

Zidane braced himself for a chorus of criticism for his team selection after their humiliating 3-0 defeat

"I know tomorrow I'm going to be hammered for this but I'm here to make decisions and I have no regrets," Zidane said.

Karim Benzema hit the post and Cristiano Ronaldo was denied by Marc-Andre ter Stegen in a bright first half display.

But Luis Suarez put Barca in front 10 minutes into the second half after arriving unchallenged in the box to finish off a counterattack.

Messi struck the second goal from the penalty spot after Dani Carvajal used his arm to stop Paulinho's header going in, while substitute Aleix Vidal grabbed the third goal in injury time.

"The game would have been different if we'd scored in the first half. We didn't, and that's football," Zidane added.

"We didn't even play that badly, which is why this hurts so much.

“I can't be happy with how we lost but I still support my players, what they've done until now is brilliant. But today we feel devastated."