Zinedine Zidane insists James Rodriguez “is going to stay” at Real Madrid after being impressed with the midfielder’s Celta Vigo cameo.
James was brought on in a penultimate throw of the dice by Zidane with 20 minutes remaining and Madrid stuck at 1-1, and though the midfielder did not score or assist Toni Kroos’ winner, his Coach was pleased with his efforts and made it clear he would not be leaving before August 31.
“I saw James play well, he was involved in the game and yes, he’s going to stay,” Zizou said after the game.
“I’ll take how we believed until the end and achieved [the win].
“Substitutes are brought on to add something [to the team] and they did that. We had a so-so game.
“Celta were very good. You can’t always win easily, so I’ll take how the team fought to the end.
“Morata had a very complete game, I liked him very much. He scored the first goal and could’ve got the second and third.
“Luka [Modric] gave a lot today. I saw him play very well, but he’s a little behind the others [physically].”
