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The history between Zidane and James Rodríguez is full of misunderstandings, but one of the main ones surrounds the lack of confidence that the Frenchman showed with the Colombian in the big games, especially in the Classics.
James spent four seasons at Real Madrid, so in LaLiga Santander he had eight chances to play against Barcelona in what is largely considered the best game in the world. However, at that time, he only appeared in three of those games.
He was injured in two of them, but the rest were fit and only started twice. As expected, both starts came with the two coaches before Zidane.
James started his first Clásico with Carlo Ancelotti on October 25, 2014. Real Madrid played very well, came back 1-0 against to win 3-1, with the Colombian assisting the third goal and Karim Benzema secured three points.
That day, James played the full 90 minutes and was acclaimed by the crowd at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on several occasions. It was his first Clásico and he was part of a team that played great football.
That season, however, bad luck hit the playmaker, as he had to watch the second Clásico of the season from home, and Real Madrid lost that match 2-1.
Ancelotti left Real Madrid at the end of that season and Rafa Benítez arrived before the 2015/16 campaign. On November 21, 2015, James played his second Clásico as a starter, but things did not go as planned this time around, as Barcelona won 4-0 at the Bernabéu. They took it out in the 55th minute.
Shortly after Benítez was dismissed and the Zidane era began. As soon as the Frenchman’s reign began, it became clear that James was not going to play a key role. The Classics soon became a nightmare for the midfielder.
Zidane took until the second Clásico of the season in the 2016/17 campaign to give him some playing time, overtaking James in the 82nd minute with Real Madrid 2-1 down. James scored in the 85th minute, but Leo Messi scored a late goal to secure Barcelona’s 3-2 victory.
After a two-year stint at Bayern Munich, James returned to Real Madrid and once again had to work under Zidane. He was injured for the first Clásico of the season in 2019/20, and was left out of the squad entirely.
So with Zidane, James could have played in five games but only managed a total of eight minutes, in which he scored a goal.
As for his record against Barcelona on the pitch, James has one victory and two losses, with one goal and one assist. This time James will be watching the game from Liverpool, where he is recovering from injury.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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