James Rodríguez generated expectation in the previous hours, since there was talk that the Colombian would not be a starter, in order to be able to head to Barranquilla soon, to join Reinaldo Rueda’s call. Finally, Blanc had him among the eleven chosen for the match against Al-Ahli. Tie to a goal, where he showed interesting things.
Regarding the approach and idea of the Frenchman, it was to have him on one of the wings, so that he could open the field and be a passing option, in addition to taking advantage of his abilities in the offensive zone, joining the attack, but without much success.
Mobility, much more than usual in James. The Colombian came to insert in the two bands on more than one occasion, always in the direction of the goal, to be able to generate greater danger and be the driver and brain in the generation.
The attitude was seen in the first half, but the limitations of his teammates and the virtue of Al-Ahli did not allow the attack to bear fruit. The errors in defense by AL-Rayyan were evident and taken advantage of, as José Pozo scored the first goal of the match at minute 23.
He was always shown as a passing option, on the left, on the right and in the center, to open up the spaces. In one of his raids, Al-Rayyan‘s draw came, despite the fact that it was not his work, if he left the James label.
A shot from outside the box almost went into the goal. The goalkeeper left the rebound for Brahimi to take advantage of and send the ball to the bottom. The push was not enough, because the arc was closing little by little and the options on the part of Al-Rayyan lost clarity in the last third of the attack.
