James Rodriguez has not recovered from his injury, will miss Al Rayyan's fourth game in the Asian Champions League

James Rodriguez's debut for Al Rayyan in the Asian Champions League will have to wait. The Colombian was expected for the fourth match of the Qatari team against Sharjah FC of the Arab Emirates, however, the injury he suffered after returning from the last matches of the Colombian national team in the South American qualifying round would not have healed 100%, so he will go to the tribune.

A few days ago, Nicolas Cordova told the media that the absence of the steering wheel was due to an injury, of which he did not give much detail. I am trying to downplay the rumor in which it was said that the Colombian had refused to play the tournament. The team's official profile has shared photographs of James training alongside the group, as well as videos of him sharing with the rest of the squad.

Al Rayyan finished the Qatar tournament in eighth place among twelve teams with 24 points away from the leader, Al Sadd, and far from the continental tournament qualification zone. This sporting result contrasts with what was done in the AFC Champions League where he is third with four points, the same as his next rival who snatches his position because of the goal difference.

The first match of the tournament ended in a 3-2 win before Istiklol Dushambe, then lost to Al Hilal, leader with perfect score and where Colombian Gustavo Cuellar plays. Finally, the most recent match was against Sharjah, which ended in a 1-1 draw on April 15. In the second round of the group stage of the tournament, their big challenge will be to beat the Emiratis and repeat victory against the Azerbaijani team to advance the stage.

James Rodriguez's last match with Al Rayyan was on March 5 against Al Wakrah at home in the 3-3 draw, in the 90-minute, in the quarter-finals of the Emir Cup. The winner was the visiting team since the penalty shootout, where the wheel was not present after presenting the first muscular ailments. Even so, he was called by Reinaldo Rueda for the matches against Bolivia and Venezuela where he started and scored a significant number of minutes.

Currently, the Envigado youth player, according to Transfermarkt, is valued at 15 million euros, well below what Real Madrid paid at the time for the '10′ of the Colombia national team.

The truth is that both injuries and some extra-sports situations affected James, who lost prominence at Real Madrid with the arrival of Rafa Benitez and who never liked the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, who despite his praise for the Colombian at press conferences, his decisions on the court proved quite the opposite.

He has played a total of 15 matches with Al-Rayyan, scored five goals and gave six assists. However, James has on more than one occasion expressed his interest in returning to the old continent.

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