After a tough return to Spain with Rayo Vallecano, despite being recognized as the MVP of the last Copa América, James Rodríguez has regained his smile in Mexico, where he has already shown glimpses of his quality, even generating up to seven goals. Now, before traveling with Colombia for this FIFA date, James gave an interview with Edu Aguirre in which he compared himself to Zinedine Zidane… and the controversy exploded.

James sees himself as better than Zidane

In this interview, Edu Aguirre tried to play a game with James Rodríguez, asking him to compare himself to some of the best players to have played for Real Madrid and Barcelona: Modric, Kroos, Xavi, Iniesta… and Zidane. “Zidane was very good, in his prime he won the World Cup, but... James,” confessed the No. 10 of Colombia.

It’s worth remembering that James Rodríguez signed with Real Madrid in 2014 after a fantastic World Cup with Colombia. In his first year, under Carlo Ancelotti, he posted spectacular numbers that allowed him to finish in the top 10 for the Ballon d’Or. However, his prominence with Zidane dropped significantly… to the point where he had to leave Real Madrid and go on loan to Bayern Munich.

Were there problems between Zidane and James?

“Zidane has always been my idol. Sometimes he would train during a session and had more quality than all of us. When Zidane arrived, it generated a lot of buzz in the media,” James Rodríguez acknowledged in this interview with Edu Aguirre, despite the tough times he went through at Real Madrid with Zidane as coach.

For a long time, there were speculations that they didn’t have a good relationship. Especially after he wasn’t called up for the Champions League final against Juventus. However, James has stated that he respected Zidane’s decisions: “Nothing happened between him and me. I played with him. But in key matches, he didn’t put me in, he put in Kroos, Casemiro, and Modric, and that’s respectable.”