Back to the International Newsfeed

Casilla hails James Rodriguez after goalscoring return

Kiko Casilla made important saves but also enjoyed James Rodriguez's "incredible" goal in Real Madrid's 2-0 La Liga win at Espanyol.

Goalkeeper Kiko Casilla felt James Rodriguez showed his importance to Real Madrid by opening the scoring in the 2-0 La Liga win over Espanyol.

Rodriguez has struggled for a regular place in Zinedine Zidane's plans and made his first start of the season Sunday at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale out because of illness and a hip injury respectively.

The Colombian playmaker grasped his chance in first-half stoppage time with a superb individual effort, setting Madrid on course to preserve its 100 percent record this season before Karim Benzema sealed the points with 19 minutes to play.