Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic has dropped star midfielder Carlos Hernandez for this week's match against Celtic.
The Victory take on the Scottish giants in an international friendly at AAMI Park on Wednesday night but will be without their key playmaker who was recently on trial with MLS outfit Real Salt Lake.
Durakovic indicated that he has punished Hernandez for not returning to pre-season training on the pre-arranged date but did stress that he was still a wanted man by the Victory.
"Carlos won't be playing. He went to America on trials on his own accord and rocked up yesterday and trained today," Durakovic said.
"We knew that he was going on trials but basically we had some points to work out and told him to come back on July 4 - which he didn't."
Durakovic added: "He's still a Melbourne Victory player and important to us.
"And we need him this year but as it is we've got rules and Carlos won't be playing this week."
