James turned 29 this Sunday but he will not celebrate by packing for Granada. The Colombian stayed out of the call again by his own decision, as it already happened against Athletic and Alavés.
If last Friday James saw Alavés 2-0 in the Di Stéfano stands with the injured and sanctioned despite being available, now not even that. Nor is Zidane missing him. He has the center of the field in full and James does not consider him for the trident of forwards in the usual 4-3-3.
The presence without being present (footballingly speaking) of James reoccupied part of the Zidane Press conference in the preview of the duel against the Nasrid team. “I will never despise a footballer”, came to be the release document of the Marseillaise.
This is the call of 23 Zinedine Zidane footballers for the match in Granada:
Goalkeepers: Courtois, Areola and Altube.
Defenses: Carvajal, Militao, Ramos, Varane, Mendy, Javi Hernández and Miguel Gutiérrez.
Midfielders: Kroos, Modric, Casemiro, Valverde and Isco.
Forwards: Hazard, Benzema, Bale, Lucas Vázquez, Asensio, Brahim, Vinicius and Rodrygo.