James Rodriguez: Colombia forward receives Golden Boot

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James RodriguezImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Rodriguez scored in every game he played at the World Cup - against Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan, Uruguay and Brazil

James Rodriguez was presented with the Golden Boot for finishing as top scorer at the World Cup on Friday - but says his only thought now is to secure a starting berth at Real Madrid.

The Colombia forward, 23, received the award in Madrid, external in recognition of his six goals in five games for Colombia.

Rodriguez's exploits persuaded Real to sign him from Monaco for £71m.

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World Cup 2014: James Rodriguez's six World Cup goals

"I have big hopes," said Rodriguez. "But first I have to train well and earn my place in the team."

Rodriguez's volley against Uruguay in the last 16 was hailed by many as the tournament's most spectacular goal but the player himself says he favoured his run and chip against Japan in the group stage.

"It was something so special that will always stay with me," Rodriguez said of his goal against Uruguay, before adding on Fifa's website: "Personally I preferred the one against Japan.

"Those are goals that stay in the memory."

Rodriguez's exploits were the catalyst for Colombia's run to the quarter-finals, where they were beaten 2-1 by the hosts.

World Cup Golden Boot winners

1930 Guillermo Stabile (Arg) eight goals

1934 Oldrich Nejedly (Cze); five

1938 Leonidas (Bra); seven

1950 Ademir (Bra); eight

1954 Sandor Kocsis (Hun); 11

1958 Just Fontaine (Fra); 13

1962 Florian Albert (Hun), Valentin Ivanov (USSR), Garrincha & Vava (Bra), Drazan Jerkovic (Yug), Leonel Sanchez (Chi); four

1966 Eusebio (Por); nine

1970 Gerd Muller (Ger); 10

1974 Grzegorz Lato (Pol); seven

1978 Mario Kempes (Arg); six

1982 Paolo Rossi (Ita); six

1986 Gary Lineker (Eng); six

1990 Salvatore Schillaci (Ita); six

1994 Oleg Salenko (Rus), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria); six

1998 Davor Suker (Cro); six

2002 Ronaldo (Bra); eight

2006 Miroslav Klose (Ger); five

2010 Thomas Muller (Ger); five

2014 James Rodriguez (Col); six

"I was hoping to win it because I have always dreamed of winning something like this," he added. "And this is also a source of happiness to my country Colombia. They gave me lot of strength so I could win the award."

Looking ahead to the challenge to come during his six-year contract at Real, Rodriguez said: "I hope to win titles here.

"I am now in a club that is always hungry for titles. And I think that if you want to play here you must always keep a high level of performance.

"And I am prepared for that. I hope I can win everything here."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Rodriguez began his career at Envigado and played for Banfield, Porto and Monaco before joining Real