The best player of the Copa América made his debut tonight in Madrid with the Rayo jersey. James Rodríguez came onto the Vallecas pitch in the 86th minute, when the team managed by Íñigo Pérez had already turned around the opening goal by Raúl García del Haro with a great goal from the central defender Mumin and another from the full-back Ratiu after the team improved thanks to the impact of Isi, De Frutos and Unai López, who closed the scoring with a terrific shot from outside the area just as the curtain was rising.
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The 2011/12/13 season saw the 2012/13/14 season go down in history with the 2012/13/15 season coming up.
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Sergio Herrera, Alejandro Catena, Abel Bretones, Enzo Boyomo, Jesús Areso, Jon Moncayola (Rubén Peña, min. 75), Aimar Oroz (Pablo Ibáñez, min. 65), Lucas Torró, Rubén García (José Arnáiz, min. 75) , Raúl García (Ante Budimir, min. 65) and Bryan Zaragoza (Moi Gómez, min. 83)
Goals
0-1 min. 26: Raul García de Haro. 1-1 min. 49: Abdul Mumin. 2-1 min. 65: Andrei Ratiu. 3-1 min. 94: Unai López
Referee Alejandro Quintero Gonzalez
Yellow cards
Moreno (min. 18), Bryan Zaragoza (min. 18), Jon Moncayola (min. 41), Sergio Camello (min. 58), Abdul Mumin (min. 77), Unai López (min. 87)
With Óscar Valentín as their metronome, Rayo imposed their high tempo and their high pressure to beat the Navarrese team amid the expectation of the debut of the Colombian midfielder, who at 33 years old decided to return to La Liga this summer with one of the most humble clubs in the First Division five seasons after having left through the back door of Real Madrid. When he stepped onto the pitch, the stadium – embedded in the heart of the working-class neighborhood of Vallecas and with a handful of Colombian flags in the stands – gave him a thunderous ovation. In the first ball he touched, he showed the quality he has in his left foot by filtering a fantastic long pass to Sergi Guardiola behind the red defense.
It was James’ return to the elite of club football after a career that showed unquestionable decline – he was fired from Qatar’s Al-Rayyan in 2022, received a severance pay from Olympiacos in 2023 and last August he left São Paulo after giving up part of his compensation – until the Colombian national team, where he wears the number 10 and is the captain, put him back in the spotlight this summer to perhaps give him his last chance to succeed again in one of the major European leagues.
James, who joined his new team at the end of August, had not played in the defeats against Barcelona at home and against Espanyol away. Rayo’s coach, Íñigo Pérez, left him out of both squads. The coach explained that the left-footed midfielder was still adapting and regaining his form, but in this last international break he played with Colombia in Lima in the draw against Peru and stood out in the victory against Argentina in Barranquilla. There, in the Caribbean city, the former Real Madrid player first set up a sweet spot for Yerson Mosquera to head in front of Dibu Martínez’s goal from point-blank range, and then converted the winning penalty to redeem himself from a mistake on a pass that had ended in Nico González’s goal.
If in 2014 James arrived in La Liga after having a fabulous World Cup with Colombia – Florentino Pérez paid around 80 million euros to Monaco for the top scorer of the World Cup with six goals and a stunning performance – a decade later he has landed at Rayo in the year of his centenary after sealing a Copa América as formidable as it was unexpected.
Before the tournament began, the attacking midfielder had only played 265 minutes for São Paulo, where he was a substitute. His four previous spells, at Olympiacos, Al-Rayyan, Everton and his final year at Madrid, did not invite one to imagine the Copa América that he achieved. James seemed to return to football life in the tournament held in the United States. His left foot, with exceptional passing and shooting ability, provided six assists – he also scored a penalty – and Colombia reached the final, where they lost to Argentina in extra time.
James escaped footballing ostracism in July for the Colombian national team, where he has already played more than 100 games. Ten years ago, after shining at the World Cup in Brazil, his first season at Madrid was the best he had in Europe. He was a player in top form and became a regular in Ancelotti’s starting eleven, who was in his second season in charge of the Whites. The Italian coach loved his ability to launch three players like Bale, Cristiano and Benzema into space in just a few touches. Wearing the number 10 on his back, he scored 17 goals and gave 18 assists in 46 games, but Madrid came up empty-handed – Barcelona won its second treble with the League, Champions League and Cup – and the Colombian was never the same player again. He began to make headlines for what he did off the pitch: his lifestyle was questioned, he separated from his wife, Daniela Ospina, in 2017 after six years of marriage and he was involved in scandalous episodes, such as when the National Police chased him at 200 kilometres per hour on the motorway to Valdebebas.
In the summer of 2017, his performances dropped and he left Madrid on a two-year loan to Bayern. After spending time in Argentina, Portugal, France, England, Qatar, Greece and Brazil, James now has Rayo Vallecano – seventh with seven points – as his last chance to shine in Spain again.
