• March 19, 2024

James Rodriguez eligible and set to face parent club Real Madrid

james rodriguez

The Los Blancos travel to the Allianz Arena to take on Bayern Munich for the first leg of their 2017/18 UEFA Champions League fixture, and players on both sides will be poised to make contributions that ensure that their side progresses to the final of the competition in Kiev.

One of such players who’ll be raring to go, and show the opposition what they’ve been missing will surely be Colombia international James Rodriguez who is currently on a two-year loan to the Bavarian giants from Real Madrid, where he has played a part in a sixth straight Bundesliga win, having scored six goals thus far.

Although there is the stipulated law that prevents loan players from facing their parent clubs in major football competitions, there are no such stipulations in UEFA-organized tournaments, thus rendering James Rodriguez eligible to face Real Madrid and the Colombian international will be poised to make a mark on Wednesday.

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The regulations were seen in action in April 2014 following the controversy that clouded Courtois’ eligibility to play for Atletico Madrid against Chelsea in the semi-finals of the UCL.

The Belgian shot-stopper now plying his trade at Chelsea played both legs and emerged on the victorious side as Chelsea were eliminated by Atletico Madrid 3:1 on aggregate.

With regards to this issue, a statement from UEFA read: “Both the Uefa Champions League and the Uefa Disciplinary Regulations contain clear provisions which strictly forbid any club to exert, or attempt to exert, any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may [or may not] field in a match.

“It follows that any provision in a private contract between clubs which might function in such a way as to influence who a club fields in a match is null, void and unenforceable so far as Uefa is concerned.

“Furthermore, any attempt to enforce such a provision would be a clear violation of both the Uefa Champions League and the Uefa Disciplinary Regulations and would therefore be sanctioned accordingly.”

Meanwhile, Real Madrid players should appear fresh for the tie having played no part in any game over the weekend and will have the likes of Ronaldo, Modric, Ramos, and the others all poised to ensure that Real emerge successful in their quest for the most number of consecutive UCL wins ever.