Rafa Benitez Discusses James Rodriguez Amid Reported Real Madrid Squad Unrest

Real Madrid manager Rafa Benitez has claimed James Rodriguez's struggle for consistent game time is purely down to the level of competition for places at the Bernabeu, and gave the midfielder his full backing.

According to Marca, he said: "I have every faith in James and he has my full support, but I insist that this is Real Madrid, a team in which there is tough competition for places. That's all there is to it."

He added: "I'm not going to go over it again. I've spoken with him and made everything clear. I want to see James at his very best every Sunday and Wednesday, scoring lots of goals. I'd be thrilled if that were the case."

Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press

The Spaniard's comments come in the wake of Marca's report that Los Blancos' squad are unhappy with the treatment of the Colombian, who was an unused substitute in Real's Champions League clashes with Paris Saint-Germain and Shakhtar Donetsk and believe he should be an "automatic starter."

Benitez opted to field Rodriguez in El Clasico ahead of Casemiro—a move that proved disastrous not because of the No. 10's performance, but rather the lack of a holding midfielder left Luka Modric and Toni Kroos isolated from their attackers and gave Barcelona the time and space to run riot.

As good as the 24-year-old is, the manager's reluctance to risk another humiliation is understandable.

Further, as Benitez points out, Rodriguez has missed a large portion of the campaign through injury: "He's a player who has been out injured for 55 days. There's no problem with the player. The more he trains and plays, the better for us."

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

The 55-year-old added that he was pleased with Rodriguez's performance in the 2-0 win over Eibar, in which he impressed for just over an hour before being substituted:

"I'm thrilled with all the players who featured against Eibar because the entire team stepped up to the plate for what was a very complicated away game. I'm ecstatic when players score lots of goals and play well."

In terms of comments to the media, Benitez has frequently been at pains to say all the right things in his time at Madrid, from his support of Rodriguez to his repeated refusal to criticise Cristiano Ronaldo despite a number of anonymous or subpar performances this season.

However, his comments on Rodriguez have divided La Liga experts Dermot Corrigan and Andrew Gaffney:

Regardless, the level of scrutiny at Real Madrid is perhaps greater than any other club in the world and it will take more than just words for Benitez to win over his unsettled squad or the Madridistas.

Primarily, he must find a balance between fielding and getting the best out of Ronaldo and Los Blancos' other pantheon of stars like Rodridguez, and also keeping the team solid enough to continue producing positive results.

To do so is an incredibly difficult job—Benitez has rarely drawn plaudits even after Real's more impressive performances this season. With that being the case, don't be surprised if he suffers an early exit from the job, possibly even before the summer.