There is another club vs. country clash on the horizon.

Once again it involves Colombia. The South American side's head coach, Jose Pekerman, plans to call James Rodríguez up for their next two internationals, against Chile and Argentina, a decision that Real Madrid do not find in the least bit funny. The Bernabéu club once again feels helpless against the power wielded by national teams and FIFA internationals which, in James's case are qualifiers for the 2018 Russia World Cup.

Real Madrid are trying to limit the number of players who head off to play for their national teams during the next international break, but some wars just cannot be won. James's Colombia, the most worrying case for Real Madrid, face two important games against Chile and Argentina, the two toughest teams in their group, and Pekerman is not going to budge. He does not care that James has been out injured for over 50 days, an injury which he picked up on international duty and that Los Blancos have been unable to use him in their last ten games. He knows that he will be declared fully fit in the next few days and for that reason has every intention of calling him up.

An international call-up means that James will not be available for training at Valdebebas ahead of 'el Clásico', until 19th November, barely 48 hours before that game kicks off. This is an important setback for Rafa Benítez, who will have to settle for his player coming back safe and sound.