Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 9y

Real Madrid's James Rodriguez set to return from injury vs. Granada

Fit-again James Rodriguez is set to go straight into the Real Madrid starting team for Sunday's La Liga game at home to Granada at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

James has not featured since breaking a bone in his foot in the 2-1 La Liga win against Sevilla in early February, with Madrid losing four of the nine games since and slipping four points behind Barcelona.

He returned to training during the international break with teammates not away with their countries, and has stepped up his recovery alongside the full squad over recent days.

A Blancos club statement suggested James had suffered no reaction that is likely to hamper his return to action, while confirming that Keylor Navas and Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez had also returned fit from their international exertions this week.

"Real Madrid continued their preparations for Sunday's game against Granada at the Santiago Bernabeu," the statement read. "Keylor Navas and Chicharito joined the group, and therefore, Ancelotti had all available players for the second last training session of the week.

"Pepe continues to recover. With [goalkeepers Iker] Casillas, Keylor Navas and [Fernando] Pacheco carrying out specific training exercises, the outfield players did warm up exercises, muscle strengthening and relay races before undertaking drills centred around ball work.

"The Whites completed a circuit with position changes towards the wings, centre and attacking area. They then played a half-pitch game."

Friday's Marca front cover hailed the good news -- saying "James on the charge," as the well-connected paper claimed that the €80 million summer signing from Monaco was likely to go straight into the starting XI against Granada.

The return is particularly well-timed given Isco is suspended having picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 2-1 Clasico defeat at Barcelona before the international break. However, Blancos coach Carlo Ancelotti will soon face a dilemma in choosing his XI when all his big stars are fit and ready to play.

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