The winger made his first start of the season and scored in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Espanyol, after which he told the media a departure from the Santiago Bernabeu was never an option (h/t Press Association, via Sky Sports).
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Zidane has some questions with his starting XI, as both Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale are not at 100 percent and remains a major doubt for the midweek match against Villarreal. After the “undecima” in the Champions League, the French tactician Real Madrid wrote his name on another page of the ledger football: that of La Liga.
‘Now we are thinking about three points on Wednesday against Villarreal, but what we are seeing is a reflection of the great work from Zidane and the team. “Getting points is the most important thing but it’s also nice to have a record like this”, added Zidane.
Bale, meanwhile, was suffering from a sore hip after being caught in a challenge by Sebastian Coates in last week’s 2-1 victory over Sporting CP.
The absence of the pair allowed Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio to face their former club, while Rodriguez came in for Germany global Toni Kroos in midfield.
Links to various clubs across Europe consistently did the rounds over the summer with fresh talks ahead of this match saying Zinedine Zidane still wanted him to leave the club and a move to Manchester United appealed to him.
The 13 million euros ($14.50 million) close-season signing from Serie A side Sassuolo let fly from the right hand side of the field to beat goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli in the 25th.
However, Casemiro and Pepe missed the workout after the former was forced off earlier in the game.
Zinedine Zidane introduced some changes in the game against Espanyol.
James Rodríguez was not the only player who spoke after the game. Real Madrid (and us actually) so saw a legendary moment.
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Nani set up Alvaro Medran to put the visitors in front after just two minutes. Villarreal will go into this fixture sitting in 6th place with eight points.
