The idea of a player playing against his parent club in a Champions League semi-final is just a bit strange, isn't it?But that’s exactly the situation James Rodriguez found himself in.James returned to the Bernabeu looking to help Bayern Munich turn around their 2-1 deficit against Real Madrid from the first-leg.And he very nearly did that.The German side took an early lead and, despite Karim Benzema’s brace either side of half-time, Bayern never looked beaten.And James hauled Bayern back into the tie with an equaliser in the second-half, meaning they needed just one more goal to progress.Of course, as he promised, the Colombian didn’t celebrate but his side failed to score another to progress to the final in Kiev.

WHAT JAMES DID TO ANNOY SO MANY FANS

While he may have angered Madrid supporters with his goal during the semi-final, it was a moment towards the end of the match that saw many football fans fuming with him.

With time running out, Bayern just needed one goal and Madrid were doing all they could to run down the clock.

And when Marco Asensio went down with cramp, Bayern had a chance to launch yet another attack on Keylor Navas’ goal.

But when James received the ball with Asensio still down, he decided to kick the ball out of play so the Spaniard could receive some treatment.

Madrid fans and players will say it was a classy gesture but everyone else - including Bayern players were fuming with him.

Asensio clearly slipped over and obviously wasn’t seriously injured. And with 83 minutes on the clock, Bayern had to take every opportunity they could to score.

It was, in fact, James last action of the semi-final tie and he was substituted during the stoppage in play.

While he played well on the night and even scored, BT Sport pundit Steven Gerrard didn’t think James should have been playing against his parent club.

“The two-year loan that they’ve agreed with Bayern Munich nearly came back to haunt them because he was so close to getting another goal as well,” Gerrard said.

“Surely you’ve got to stop him from playing against you. He could have come back and knocked them out of the European Cup.”

Instead, Madrid got away with it as James goal didn't make too much difference to the tie in the end.

And no other Bayern player would have kicked the ball out of play with Asensio down. Maybe letting him play was a good idea after all...