James Rodríguez has his regular place on the substitutes’ bench at Real Madrid. His coach Zinédine Zidane has not even replaced him recently.
After the 2014 World Cup many James Rodríguez predicted a great career. Six years later, the Real Madrid star is still on the sidelines after the Corona break.
At the restart of the Spanish championship, the Colombian was not in the starting line-up for the “royal” team against SD Eibar (3-1), which was no big surprise.
All the more so, however, was the fact that James was not substituted after coach Zinédine Zidane’s comfortable 3-0 half-time lead. And this despite the fact that five substitutions have been allowed in La Liga since the re-start.
Zidane made full use of his substitution quota, but James was not one of the players to warm up.
A two-year loan to FC Bayern Munich followed. Despite winning two league titles, he was never able to realise his potential in Munich – which was also due to one or two injuries. In 2019 he returned to Madrid after the loan expired.
On Wednesday, James may have a chance to play his way back into Zidane’s memory. The French coach was unhappy with the attitude of some of the stars, despite his victory over Eibar. There is also a question mark over the performances of Dani Carvajal, Gareth Bale and Marcelo against FC Valencia.