Al Rayyan from Qatar made his debut in the Asian Champions League with a draw against Istiklol Dushanmbe in Tayakistan. However, the news happened because of the absence of Colombian player James Rodríguez both in the starting eleven and on the substitute bench. The steering wheel last played with his club was on March 5 before joining the Colombia national team.
The last match was in the match against Al Wakrah for the Emir Cup where James played 86 minutes and retired without kicking in the penalty shootout due to muscle discomfort. Since then he stopped playing the championship closing matches against Al Sadd and Al Shamal, the first ended in defeat and the second in victory.
James Rodríguez then concentrated with the Colombia national team for the matches against Bolivia and Venezuela in the closing of the South American Qualifying. The scorer of the world cup in Brazil 2014 played both matches and proved to be in good physical condition, which makes his absence from the Asian Champions League debut even more surprising.
A few days ago, the Colombian was confirmed by his club as registered for the tournament, which will play with number 10, and traveled with the entire delegation to Saudi Arabia, where the championship takes place. This in the midst of rumors of a possible exit to football in Brazil.
Tajakistan's debut match against Istiklol Dushanmbe ended in victory for Al Rayyan 3-2. The scorers for the Qatari team were Yacine Brahimi eight minutes into the match and Yohan Boli twice, in the 44th minute and the 71st minute, to lead the team that played as a visitor.
On the other hand, Shakhrom Suleymanov scored for the home team three minutes into the match and Muhammad Isaev in the 67th minute. The next match will be against Al Hilal, where fellow Colombian Gustavo Cuellar plays, on Monday, April 11 at 12:15pm Colombian time. The group stage of the Asian Champions League is played in back-and-forth matches, so they will face the Tayakistan team again on 23 April.
One of the rumors about Rodríguez Rubio's new whereabouts was related to Brasileirão, or first division of Brazil, more specifically in the traditional champion of America: São Paulo.
Regarding the alleged interest of the São Paulo team in taking over the services of the experienced Cucuteño flyer, Brazilian journalist Jorge Nicola spoke directly with the club's president, Julio Casares, who denied that there will be an upcoming hire for the third historical top scorer of the tricolor team.
Casares commented that, “there is not the slightest chance of signing James, we don't have the financial conditions” and that instead they have bet on younger players with a lower market cost and salary. Such is the case of Vallecaucano midfielder and pivot Andrés Colorado, who won the BetPlay II 2021 League with Deportivo Cali and returned from his loan to Cortuluá FC to be loaned now to São Paulo, a club he arrived at since February 25 and where he will be playing until December 31 of this year.
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