Neymar, James and the Clasico Rivalry That Never Materialised

It should have been the beginning, but in 55 minutes, it had become the end. Only moments earlier, Andres Iniesta, surging from deep, had rocketed a shot into the top-right corner before storming toward the corner flag, arm in the air, an entire bench spilling out on to the playing surface.

Behind them, white shirts were scattered, two of them on the ground. White handkerchiefs were waved in the stands in the Spanish game's universal display of disgust. Rafa Benitez sat there taking notes.

Among the expletives put down with enough vigour to tear the paper, one of them might have read, "don't listen to them again." Another might have been, "don't get used to this seat." Perhaps one more might have been: "James: presi, I tried."

Instantly, Isco was stood on the touchline, and the substitutes board went in the air. In green was 22 and in red was 10. Quickly amid the rising tension, the Santiago Bernabeu almost on the verge of revolt, James Rodriguez left the pitch and disappeared—in every sense. 

Tucked in the back of the Real Madrid dugout, the Colombian wasn't seen again that evening. And he hasn't really been seen again since—not authentically, not as him, not as the James he can be. Fifty-five dreadful minutes from Real Madrid had produced a casualty: James was it, and so was a rivalry within the rivalry. 

That Clasico at the Bernabeu last November had looked set to be the take-off point for the next subplot in the ever-evolving story of Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. The ingredients were there, and the landscape was changing; it wasn't the point at which they'd take over but at which the potential of it would materialise and provide of glimpse of the next. Neymar vs. James was coming, except it wasn't. 

More than 12 months on, and with another Clasico looming, Neymar vs. James isn't anything. One is a global icon and recent Ballon d'Or candidate; the other is simply fighting for a game. Where did it go astray? Why so? Or was it nothing to begin with?

One of the things about rivalries is that we often go looking for them. Columnists and media love a rivalry within a rivalry because it's the classic "battle within the war." They add layers to the story and nuances to explore. Fans love them, too, for they can intensify one's perception of what's at play. Through experience of them, we look for more. 

Such duels come in different forms, but they all feature something at the centre of them that's shared. It might be a position, a quality or a symbolism.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominate such a scene now through their historic smashing of records. A decade or so ago, Roy Keane vs. Patrick Vieira was a battle of ferocity between giants, almost caricature-like gladiators. Years before that, even in their fleeting encounters, Johan Cruyff vs. Franz Beckenbauer was a fight for pre-eminence through style. 

Perhaps we just wanted another one even if there wasn't. Perhaps our anticipation prevented us from seeing that there was nothing there. And yet, you're still inclined to think there was: Neymar vs. James feels like something that was there, waiting, but has been lost, rather than something that never existed. 

Theirs was a head-to-head affair that carried many of the modernist pre-requisites. It was forward vs. hybrid forward and Brazilian vs. Colombian. They were essentially the same age, both carrying a star's looks that matter in a new world of fandom.

At domestic level, they also fitted their clubs' identities to a tee, the ultimate stylist and the Galactico. In national colours, they both wore No. 10, too, with their countries' meetings viewed through the prism of them as a pair. 

At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil vs. Colombia in Fortaleza was billed as Neymar vs. James, whether or not they liked it.

"It isn't a match between Neymar and James Rodriguez but a game between Brazil and Colombia," the Barcelona star said, per the Times of India (h/t Goal's Vaishali Bhardwaj).

But it was about them, and it still is. Brazil vs. Colombia has rumbled on from that World Cup, through the Copa America and now into World Cup qualifying. Neymar vs. James has rumbled along with it; in South America, there's something there, just not in Spain. Not now, anyway. 

James has barely played for Real Madrid for 12 months, but it wasn't always like this. It's too easily forgotten now that the Colombian wasn't just a World Cup sensation, but also one at the Bernabeu initially, too.

His debut season in the capital packed 17 goals and 16 assists. Handfuls of them were sublime, and his highlight reel was among the finest in Europe. "He has surprised all of us," said Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid's manager at the time. 

For Ancelotti, James had been a headache that had worked itself out. The playmaker was a Galactico who signalled the return of the Galactico; it all looked flawed, and that's because it was, but somehow it worked, too. A system or a calibration fell into a place, and James sparkled. He looked like the heir to a team-mate's throne. 

But this is one of the issues many of us have when assessing such matters. We quickly perceive development and progression in football as a linear matter when it's not: Trajectories are extrapolated without thought for circumstance; obstacles are never envisioned. We see the now and settle on what it means for the next, all straight lines of thought. 

But by last November's Clasico, James' existence in Chamartin had become a neat arch. When he was signed back in 2014, he'd been viewed as another tipping point in Madrid's post-2000 story, another David Beckham in terms of what he represented—football meeting entertainment and commerce. It had taken a while, but he had become that. 

On the day when Benitez fielded an XI with no structure and no balance, when he bowed to external and internal pressure, when Barcelona ran riot, when Neymar grabbed control of the Clasico for himself, James through no fault of his own was representative of the political mess, of a club's prioritising of finance over function.  

He's never recovered. Benitez would soon be gone having never truly valued the Colombian. Zinedine Zidane has since viewed James as part of the club's core issue that he's tackling head on, his status giving him the power to do so, to challenge the way the club structures itself. 

The point where it all changed was last November. A rivalry within the Clasico rivalry was extinguished by a single Clasico. Now there's nothing there in Neymar vs. James, or maybe there never was.