AFP, Brazil :
Brazil will be in trouble in Friday’s World Cup quarter-final against Colombia if they afford the outstanding James Rodriguez any space in which to perform, midfielder Fernandinho warned on Monday.
The 22-year-old attacking midfielder has been arguably the player of the World Cup so far, scoring five goals in Colombia’s four matches, including a magnificent volley in the 2-0 defeat of Uruguay in the last 16.
And Fernandinho said that he could see that Rodriguez would develop into a star when they came up against each other in a Champions League match between Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Porto in September 2011.
“I played against him in the Champions League. It was at the start of his time in Europe and he wasn’t yet a first-choice” for Porto, said Fernandinho.
“Already in that game he showed his technical quality with his left foot. In this World Cup he is showing everyone that the money Monaco paid for him was well invested. The less space he gets against us, the better it will be for Brazil.”
Despite that, Fernandinho said there will be no question of Brazil looking to man-mark Rodriguez, who moved to Monaco from Porto for 45 million euros ($61.6m) last year.
“Wherever I have played, man-marking does not exist anymore. It needs to be done zonally,” said the Manchester City midfielder.
Meanwhile, Brazil must also prepare to cope with the kind of pressure they faced in Saturday’s dramatic last-16 victory against Chile in Belo Horizonte.
