Marco Asensio lashed out at a cool box and threw his bottle to the ground in disgust after Carlo Ancelotti decided not to substitute him on for Real Madrid in their La Liga clash with Mallorca.
Los Blancos maintained their lead at the summit of the Spanish top flight with a 4-1 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday afternoon. Having fallen behind to Vedat Muriqi's opener, the hosts responded through Federico Valverde, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo before Antonio Rudiger opened his Real Madrid account in added time.
The result saw the reigning champions extend their 100 per cent record after five league games, leaving them two points ahead of arch-rivals Barcelona. However, the mood in the home dugout was not entirely happy - far from it.
That is because Asensio could not hide his frustration at being an unused substitute for the fixture. The Spanish playmaker was asked to warm up by Ancelotti, only for the veteran manager to turn elsewhere as he sought fresh legs. Dani Carvajal, Nacho, Luka Modric and Eduardo Camavinga got the nod instead as Asensio was snubbed.
As he trudged back to the bench, the 26-year-old threw away his bib, kicked a nearby cool box and tossed his bottle to the ground before sitting down with a dejected expression. Ancelotti addressed the player's strop in his post-match press conference with a typically-measured response.
The Italian had been intending to give Asensio a run-out but changed his plans after Real Madrid took the lead through Vinicius in the 72nd minute and right-back Lucas Vazquez sustained an injury. Ancelotti understands this will have greatly frustrated Asensio but insists there is no greater problem behind the scenes.
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"If he's angry, I agree with him," he said of Asensio. "It's normal, it means he wants to play, to feel important. In this period, he has been the player most affected in the squad and I take that into account. I'm totally in agreement with his anger. It's fine."
Sunday's snub was the latest disappointing moment in what has been a challenging start to the season for Asensio. He has only made one appearance in La Liga - a seven-minute cameo against Celta Vigo in August - and had to settle for 10 minutes of action against Celtic in the Champions League in midweek.
Asensio was keen to leave Real Madrid in the summer in search of more minutes but a move failed to materialise. He has less than 12 months remaining on his contract and it appears likely he will pursue pastures new next year rather than extend his stay at the club, which dates back to 2014.
