James Rodriguez believes Real Madrid deserved to beat Cordoba even though they needed a late Gareth Bale penalty to do so.
Bale netted in the final moments of the contest after the hosts took an early lead of their own, also from the spot.
Karim Benzema equalised and Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off but Cordoba went down to 10 men themselves when Fede was shown a second yellow for the handball that produced the decisive penalty.
“It takes a lot to win these games because they play very deep, closing the spaces,” James said immediately after the match, according to AS.
“We always want to win because we are Real Madrid. The final result was fair.”
Asked about Ronaldo’s dismissal, the Ballon d’Or winner red carded for an altercation with a number of Cordoba defenders, James insisted he wasn’t aware of what happened.
“I haven’t seen what happened for the red card with Cristiano because I was off the pitch,” he noted.
“The sanction is up to the Federation, if it’s one, two or three games. He’s a very important player for Madrid and hopefully he’ll be back quickly.”
