An unprecedented event: El Clasico deepens the suffering of a Barcelona star
Gavi is enduring one of the most delicate spells since his promotion to Barcelona's first team, confronting a situation he had never faced before in his career.
Sport newspaper reported that Gavi sat out the Clasico for the first time since his debut, and that the decision was tactical.
Hansi Flick never turned to Gavi against Real Madrid. That carries real weight given how much these fixtures mean to the midfielder and the fire he brings to the biggest occasions.
He had been one of the loudest voices in the build-up, too, making no secret of his appetite to take on the old rival.
"In Clasico matches, you have to go to war," he said on Saturday. "It does not matter how either team arrives at the match, these are fixtures that are played to the death."
That eagerness never found an outlet on the pitch.
A place on the bench came as no shock. What startled everyone was Flick refusing him a single minute.
Starts have been scarce for Gavi this season, and the trouble he has finding a way into the side has only grown clearer as the weeks pass.
The German coach had sat down with him to talk it through, spelling out just how fierce the battle for a midfield spot has become.
"Gavi has great ambition, and he always wants to play," Flick said last September. "He played, then he got injured, and after that he returned to playing, but the team is going well in its current situation, and that has to be accepted."
The message was clear enough: Gavi would have to be patient. The problem is that his situation threatens to worsen. Frenkie de Jong is back, having already featured against Real Madrid, and that opens the door to fresh competition in an area where Pedri and Rodri look to have nailed down their places.
Fermin and Dani Olmo offer further attacking alternatives on top of that. Even Marc Bernal, given his profile and his role on the pitch, has racked up more minutes than Gavi in certain scenarios.
All of which could leave Gavi as the last midfielder in Flick's pecking order.
At 22, Gavi faces a challenge he never saw coming. Having come through serious physical problems, he needs to rediscover his rhythm and make himself matter to the team again.
Nobody doubts his competitive streak. But he now has to persuade Flick he belongs in a midfield where booking a seat gets harder by the day.
Gavi's contract runs until 2030, and his commitment to the club is total. Even so, how his situation unfolds between now and January is worth watching closely.
Flick leans on a tight rotation, yet even allowing for that, Gavi's numbers make grim reading. He has started just two matches and clocked up only a handful of minutes.
Being frozen out of this Clasico is striking indeed, given the mark Gavi used to leave on such fixtures.
