James Rodriguez not after revenge vs Real Madrid as Bayern Munich star targets Champions League final spot

Bongarts/Getty Images
Standard Sport1 May 2018

James Rodriguez insists revenge is not on his mind when Bayern Munich face his former club Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals tonight.

James helped Madrid win two Champions Leagues, two Club World Cups and a Spanish La Liga title before he left on loan last year because of declining playing time under coach Zinedine Zidane.

The playmaker now says his prime focus is to help Bayern overcome the 2-1 first-leg loss and advance to the final.

James said on Monday he expects a warm welcome from the locals at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, and will not celebrate if he scores out of respect for the Madrid fans.

"It's beautiful to be able to return to a place that was my home for three years," Rodriguez said. "They treated me very well here.

"It's a place I always wanted to be. I spent three unique years here and I won many titles. I only have respect for the people here. I was happy here."

James left because he wanted to play more often. Zidane constantly praised Rodriguez when he was with Madrid but gave him few chances as a starter or reserve.

"I have absolutely nothing against (Zidane) or the club," Rodriguez said. "I don't have any feelings of anger toward him.

"I'm not going to try to win the match only because I'll be playing against him. I just want to play well and help Bayern advance to the final. I want to play a good match, that's it."

James, 26, said nobody was at fault for his departure from Madrid.

"When I had the chance to play I did good things, scored goals, and helped my teammates," he said. "When I got to play I played at a very good level."

Madrid paid Monaco a reported €80million (now about £73m) for the then 22-year-old Rodriguez after he attracted the world's attention at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

In Pictures | Bayern vs Real Madrid | 25/04/2018

1/26

Bayern have the option to buy James for €42m (£37m) after his two-year loan expires.

"I don't have to show anything to anybody," Rodriguez added. "For now I'm with Bayern and I'm happy. I don't know anything about the future."

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in