James wants to stay at Madrid for a "long time"

In a rare chance to impress under Zinedine Zidane, James started in Madrid's 3-1 win against Napoli in the first leg of its Champions League last-16 clash on Wednesday.

James Rodriguez insisted his future is with Real Madrid, despite ongoing speculation over his future.

In a rare chance to impress under Zinedine Zidane, James started in >Madrid's 3-1 win against Napoli in the first leg of its Champions League last-16 clash on Wednesday.

James made the most of his opportunity amid reported interest from the Premier League but the Colombia international is happy in the Spanish capital.

"I thinking everything is going well, Madrid are a big club and I always wanted to be here," he said.

"Good and bad things always happen but I want to stay here for a lot longer.

"I always train to play and I want to be here."

James continued: "You always want to play, now that I have more game time, everything is slowly changing."

The 25-year-old also heaped praise on Zidane following the win at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema and Casemiro all scored.

"He's good, he's an excellent coach and he's very talented," James said. "I have spoken to him about certain issues already and I do not want to talk about it."