The 2014 World Cup acted as James Rodriguez’s coming-out party. Before the tournament, he was a promising young player who had just put together an impressive debut season at Monaco; six goals later, he was on his way to Real Madrid in an €80-million move having proved his ability on a worldwide stage.
When he then made a direct contribution to 29 goals in his debut season at the Bernabeu under Carlo Ancelotti, it seemed the trajectory of this golden boy, whose talent and consistent desire for improvement had powered a swift ascent from Envigado to Banfield, Porto to Monaco and onwards to Madrid, was set to continue upwards.
It wasn’t to be. Under Rafael Benitez, then Zinedine Zidane, he found himself marginalised, playing a bit part role as a back-up forward. He was not getting the minutes he felt he deserved. A move to Bayern Munich last summer, initially on loan, provided a welcome escape route.
In Munich, he has found his feet once more. And on Wednesday, he will get a chance to show Zidane and others in the Spanish capital what they are missing when Bayern host Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
The switch to Bavaria has provided Rodriguez with the reset he required, personally and professionally. His decisive displays against RB Leipzig, Schalke, and most notably, in the first-half demolition of Borussia Dortmund in March, in which he had a direct hand in three of the five goals, have helped Bayern to a sixth consecutive Bundesliga title.
He has made a direct contribution to 16 goals in league play and has done so while spreading his influence further across the pitch. In his first few training sessions after replacing the sacked Ancelotti, Jupp Heynckes saw attributes in Rodriguez that he felt would be best exploited from a deeper starting position. Instead of being utilised as a forward or attacking midfielder, the 26-year-old has largely been employed as part of a midfield three.
There, he has been completing more passes, over a wider range, than ever before, and combining adeptly with teammates to progress the ball forward into the final third with quality. His astute pass to release Juan Bernat to cross for Thomas Muller’s opening goal in Bayern’s weekend triumph away at Hannover was typical of his recent contributions.
The question now is whether Colombia can make similar use of his talents at this summer’s World Cup in Russia.
His chance to be the team’s protagonist at Brazil 2014 largely came due to the absence, through injury, of Radamel Falcao, and a switch from a lopsided 4-2-2-2 to a 4-2-3-1 formation that transformed him into the attacking centrepiece of a side who went further than Colombia ever had before by reaching the last eight of the competition.
Ever since, coach Jose Pekerman has seemed to primarily view Rodriguez as a player who does his best work inside the final third. He has even experimented with employing an intermediate creative presence in midfield to allow Rodriguez to position himself higher. Perhaps he is right to do so. Colombia are certainly not as rich in attacking resources as Bayern. But there is still a feeling that Rodriguez might be best-utilised in a deeper role.
His performance in leading the second-half comeback in Colombia’s recent 3-2 friendly win away to France certainly supported that view. He dropped back and consistently made himself available to pick up possession and advance his side forward, but also provided a telling contribution in attack, receiving the ball and squaring for Falcao to equalise.
On the back of a season in which he has rediscovered his form and shown the full extent of his capabilities, Rodriguez now has two aims: produce a decisive display against Madrid and then lead Colombia to a strong World Cup.
