The camera angle at Anfield makes it seem like you’re practically on top of the near touchline. With Gareth Bale out due to injury, Isco started on the left-side at Liverpool and played one of the best halves of football of his career.

Isco was bought by Real Madrid from Málaga for €30 million back in 2013 by beating out Manchester City, who wanted him to come along with Manuel Pellegrini after their Champions League run. Isco going to City would have been a repeat of 2010 for Real Madrid when they were outbid for David Silva and instead signed Mesut Özil. 

The world already knew Isco was one of the best young playmakers in Spain, but his performance at Liverpool was somehow a surprise of Real Madrid possessing still another gear it doesn’t even need -- somewhat like uncovering the A-list actor playing Dr. Mann in ‘Interstellar’ when his hypersleep chamber was opened and the film clicks over to another level. The fear was Isco was confined to a reduced role in which his gifts would be wasted, but his influence entirely overwhelmed Liverpool.

Six months before Isco was sold, he led Málaga to their first win over Real Madrid in 29 years with the first goal of the 3-2 match and generally controlled the run of play. The talent level at Málaga is of course on an entirely different level than at Real Madrid and where he was assigned to do too much with too little under Pellegrini, his first season under Carlo Ancelotti involved playing a more defensive role. After an outstanding start in which he scored five goals in his first six matches, Isco didn’t see as much of the pitch or the ball and didn’t make as much of an impact as Jése during the middle part of the season. Isco was still good enough to be the centerpiece of virtually any club in the world, but the only certain way he was making an impact was as a worker due to Real Madrid’s depth.

Isco was a big part of how Real Madrid flipped Atlético Madrid’s 1-0 lead in the Champions League Final last May when he came on in the second half along with Marcelo and Ancelotti switched to a 4-4-2. Luka Modric was able to operate much more effectively with Isco beside him rather than Sami Khedria and Real Madrid began to unlock Atleti in the attacking third.

Isco was exactly the type of player Spain needed to bring with them to the World Cup since he has the skill and passing required to play on that XI, plus the speed and ability to win the ball back and dribble through a defense that was missing with so many of their 2008-2014 core hugging either side of 30. Isco had just turned 22 three months before the World Cup. 

With Bale unavailable for Real Madrid in that October stretch this season, Ancelotti moved from a 4-3-3 to that 4-4-2 and this allowed Real Madrid to possess the ball and link up their attack in a far less chaotic yet still powerful way. In this formation, Isco gives Real Madrid the energy and ability to win the ball back like Ángel di María, yet also with the exceptional playmaking and creativity of Andrés Iniesta.

Just days after beating Liverpool, Real Madrid won the first Clásico of 14-15 by a 3-1 margin over Barcelona. The third goal, in which Isco’s run initiated Real Madrid’s attack after he found Cristiano Ronaldo, who then passed to James Rodríguez before the eventual strike by Karim Benzema.

Ted Knutson described Isco as a “Fabregas that has 5.5 successful dribbles per 90 + still has legs to tackle.” Isco is precise as a passer and dribbler and a maniac chasing down the ball on defense.

The best comparison in the long-term may just be Zinedine Zidane, who for me represents the pinnacle of what a footballer should be with how he balanced that line between his elegance and production that puts him somewhere between athlete and performer. Zidane also was chiefly responsible for getting Isco to Real Madrid. Zidane lobbied for Isco when Florentino Pérez was unsure if he was worth the transfer fee and also convinced Isco to stay in Spain after he was all but gone to Manchester City.

Whether Ancelotti sticks with his preferred 4-3-3 or the more effective for my money 4-4-2, he is still confronted with six spots for seven guys who all deserve to play in Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale, James, Modric, Toni Kroos and Isco. The depth is critical for Real Madrid’s long season, but in getting the most out of the roster for the most important matches, switching Bale back to fullback to more simply be an instinctual athlete and score goals like this one against Barça in the Copa del Rey is a solution to a problem that will become even more pronounced when Jése returns. If the plan is to keep all eight of those players over the next two or three seasons, a nonconventional plan is needed to not waste all of these resources on the bench

No club, not even Real Madrid, spends €100 million on a fullback, but that Bale money is offset by Isco’s €30 million bargain. Isco was signed in the first place as preemptive insurance in case Bale couldn’t be signed later in the summer and because Real Madrid could afford to take on a player Zidane swears by and who is also Spanish, which matters in Madrid. Like when Liverpool signed Andy Carroll for £35 million and Luis Suárez for £22.7 million in the winter of 2011 with those £50 million stacks of Fernando Torres to Chelsea, sometimes the lesser player at the time becomes the more valuable piece. Bale has moments of transcendence in which his athleticism overwhelms the opponent, but Isco puts his mark on a match with far more frequency and is more indispensible already.

Maybe there’s even some truth to Real Madrid and Ronaldo nearing the end of their marriage and there is already enough talent in that aforementioned group to adequately replace him, even though it will feel like a sacrilegious, unproven thought until we see this side without his gravitational force.

For now, Real Madrid has created a new genre of greatness this season that is capable of dismantling any club in the world in a number of different ways. Their counter is the most exhilarating moment in sports right now and their build-up can unlock a defense as well as any other club in the world. They have been quicker and more athletic than Barça for quite some time and with Isco, Kroos and Modric, they also even have more pure skill in the midfield.

Real Madrid doesn’t play with the subtle poetry of an art house film like Barça did during the height of their powers when they were good enough to fully follow their tiki-taka bliss; they are a Christopher Nolan film on 70mm IMAX raging through space while obliging you to contemplate the capabilities of man.