James Rodriguez has not been going through his best sporting moment since he arrived at Al-Rayyan, in Qatar football. The Colombia team's flyer has not been able to play 50% of the matches with his team, since there have been more times when he has been injured. Of the 19 games played so far this year, the cucuteño has barely acted in nine.
When it seemed that the '10' would return to the courts soon, the institution released a medical report last Friday in which it stated that it had a lesion “in the anterior muscle of the left leg (first degree tear)”. Therefore, the club indicated that the estimated disability was about 3 weeks.
The last time James played a match with Al-Rayyan was on March 5, in the penalty loss (8-7) against Al-Wakrah for the Amir Cup quarterfinals. That day the Colombian steering wheel played 86 minutes. Since then, he has missed seven other commitments: two for the Qatar League and five for the Asian Champions League.
Amid concerns about his future, Rodriguez was seen sharing with Saudi Arabian businessman Meshal Alsefai, who posted a photo on his Twitter account. “It was an honor and a pleasure to see each other today, my best wishes until we meet again,” he wrote in the post.
These days, James meets the Al-Rayyan delegation in Arab territory, where he will play his next Asian Champions League match against Al-Hilal of fellow Colombian Gustavo Cuellar. This match will be decisive in the fight to qualify for the round of 16, as the squads appear second (10 sts.) and first (13 sts.), respectively.
In recent days Rodriguez was seen in a famous restaurant in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, whose main concept is that visitors are given food in their mouths. The recording, by Turkish chef Ebubekir Çakmak, showed 'coffee maker' at the wheel trying this experience while another employee wiped it with a napkin.
The footballer of the 'tricolor' was served a Baklava, a cake made from a paste of pistachios or crushed nuts, distributed in a filo mass and dipped in syrup or honey syrup. This dessert can be found under different names in Turkish, Iranian and Arabic cuisine, as well as from other regions of the Levant, Armenia, the Maghreb, Greece, the Indian Subcontinent and the Balkans.
The truth is that, given the few minutes, several sectors of the local fans have started to criticize him, calling for his departure from the institution for next season. “The Al Rayyan club is bigger than this player, outside James,” said one of them after meeting the medical part with the Colombian's disability. In addition, this malaise would grow due to the high salary he holds (about 12 million euros per year).
The Cucuteño steering wheel signed for Real Madrid in 2014 in exchange for 80 million euros, however, over the years, its value has fallen sharply. Currently, his record, according to the specialized portal Transfermarkt, is valued at 15 million euros, and, given the few minutes he has recently had, these figures are likely to continue to fall.
“Until when in Qatar? I don't know, you don't know what's going to happen. Although I would like to go the other way now,” James hinted a few weeks ago through his Twitch account.
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