Usually when away on international duty players tend to keep their heads down and enjoy a few days away from the glare and pressure of their domestic season.

It's a chance for them to not only represent their country but meet up with friends that are dotted around the world for a short peril of time.

But apparently James Rodriguez didn't get that memo as he caused controversy while on duty with Los Cafeteros this week.

Colombia travelled to Ecuador for a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday but were being hounded by the press for their less than impressive victory over bottom side Bolivia over the weekend.

The Real Madrid man scored the penalty that gave the side all three points, but their overall form throughout the qualifiers has been hit and miss, which has garnered a lot of negative attention from the Colombian press.

And while camped out in front of the Colombian side's training base, three press photographers saw James appear at the window, only he wasn't offering a friendly wave.

Instead, the 25-year-old offered a distinctly unfriendly one-fingered salute, and the image, which you can see below, was captured by AFP photographer Luis Acosta.

Speaking with ESPN, Acosta said: "At the front were three agency photographers and two journalists from the channel WIN Sports.

"Behind were other colleagues doing interviews with the players. From the second storey of the building, where the gym is, James came out and made this 'pistol' gesture towards where we were."

Charming...

Relations between the team and the press are at their lowest point in years, and Rodriguez's actions have caused a serious negative reaction across the country.

The pressure on Colombia to qualify has now intensified, with Ecuador and Chile sat right behind them by a single point.

The top four teams in South America qualify for the World Cup automatically, with the fifth placed team going into a playoff.

Of course, this behaviour could just be a manifestation of James' frustrations from playing a bit-part role at Real Madrid this season.

So far, he has managed just seven starts in the league and is struggling to establish himself within Zinedine Zidane's plans and is being linked with a move away at the end of the current campaign.