Welcome to TalkBarca. Today, we are going to discuss The Whole Career of Ivan Rakitic in a Nutshell. Furthermore, we will be discussing everything Ivan Rakitic has done for Barcelona, his achievements, his role in the past, and most importantly his mistreatment at the club.
I have been noticing recently how much Ivan is being ignored by Valverde. Ivan is a part of our squad in almost all the games. However, he stays on the bench for the entire 90 minutes. This is very wrong to be honest. He might not be the same midfield sensation anymore, but, he is way better than being benched in every game. Ivan Rakitic is our legend if you ask me, he does not deserve such mistreatment after giving his everything to the club. If anyone out there thinks that he has declined or something, I can assure you that you are very wrong.
The fact is that Ivan is no longer used as he was before. Then how can we expect to perform him like before? Valverde is known for wasting talented players. We have seen that with Coutinho and now we are seeing it with Greizmann, Alena, as well as Rakitic. Rakitic’s midfield qualities are still high class, in fact, if given full freedom, he can return to be a don in the midfield once again.
Rakitic is currently 31 years old which means that he still has 3-4 good years of football depending upon his fitness. Furthermore, he can expand his career playing in the lower-level leagues. Therefore, Valverde has to stop this mistreatment and start using him in the right way. We should not waste such a midfield mastermind just like this. It hurts if you consider yourself in his position. You give everything for a club for 3-4 years and what you get in return is being benched, ignored, and no longer rewarded? You stand as one of the most senior players in the squad, yet you don’t have the freedom to play in your style? Is this really FC Barcelona that we know? Is this how we are repaying him for everything he has done for us?
Ivan Rakitic Career Highlights:
Rakitic has had a great career as a midfielder. Coming to Barcelona and sharing the midfield with the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, and Sergio Busquests. Not only sharing the field with such legendary midfielders but, being able to cement your place in the starting XI isn’t something for everyone. Talking about Iniesta, Rakitic was also considered to be better than him during his time at Barcelona because when Rakitic arrived, Iniesta was no longer at his peak form. At that time, Rakitic used to shine in the midfield and used to cover more ground than any other midfielder available in the team.
Looking at where it all started, Ivan Rakitic started his career at FC Basel and after 2 seasons Shalke signed him. Rakitic then joined Sevilla and represented them from 2010 to 2014. During the 2013/14 season, Unai Emery named Rakitic as the Captain of Sevilla. Rakitic was the man of the match when Sevilla won the Europa League final on penalties against Benfica in Turin.
On 1st July 2014, Rakitic moved to Barcelona and you know the rest of the history. Rakitic won the treble during his first season with Barcelona. His major achievements during his career include his goal during the Champions League Final and he became the first player to win the Champions League and Europa League back to back while playing for two different clubs. Furthermore, his volley in the EL Clasico is also a big memory for the Cules and not to forget countless assists during many seasons. He was also identified as one of the most underrated players in the world by Jose Mourinho after he scored the only goal in El Clasico on 2nd March 2019.
Individual Achievements:
Rakitic is the Croatian Footballer of the Year 2015. He made it to the FIFA FIFPRO World 11 3rd team in 201, 4th team in 2016, and 5th team in 2015. He is also the nominee in FIFA FIFPRO World 11 in 2019. This shows that he has never stopped progressing. He has always worked hard to be better than his previous version and as a matter of fact, every season, we saw a better Rakitic then the previous one.
Stats With FC Barcelona:
Since joining Barcelona, Ivan Rakitic has played 176 games in total (including 7 appearances from this season). In these games, he has only conceded 1 red card and 19 yellow cards. This is a pretty fair record if you ask me. He is one of the most disciplined and the cleanest players in the world. Sometimes, the situation demands to commit a tactical foul which leads to a booking. Considering Rakitic’s incredible footballing IQ, we can comfortably say that a lot of those yellow cards were necessary considering the situation. If not, he is a human being and he can commit mistakes every now and then. But his record clearly shows how disciplined he is.
Talking about the goals and assists, Rakitic has 24 goals and 25 assists in those 176 appearances. This is a pretty fair record if you ask me since the quality of a midfielder is judged from the dominance on the pitch and not through stats. Yes, midfielders score goals every now and then and they also have the responsibility to provide assists. However, the main game of a midfield player is to control the game, make good passes and play a pivotal role. I believe, Midfielders and Defenders are the unsung heroes of every team and therefore, their brilliance cannot be calculated just by taking a look at the stats.
As far as I have seen, the biggest strength of Rakitic is his stamina. He is a proper Engine and his movements all over the pitch are very depressing for the opposition players when he is playing his natural game. Rakitic is a selfless player who gives and has given his all for the team in every outing.
Ivan Rakitic International Career:
Coming to his International Career, Ivan Rakitic is one of the main players in the Croatia squad. Even though he shares the midfield with the well known and also the 2018 Ballon’ D’ Or winner, Luka Modric, he is still considered to be a better player than him. Raktic handles the midfield far superior than Modric and also has the leadership qualities. I am not being biased here just because I am a Barcelona fan. Mamy professional journalists and experts share the same opinion. However, Luka is also one of the finest of this generation and both these midfielders lead Croatia to the World Cup final.
Ivan Rakitic made his International Career Debut in 2007 in Euro 2008 Qualifier. He came in later as a substitute and the fans loved him and highly applauded him for his performance. He ended the year of 2007 with 7 senior International caps. His first goal for Croatia came in his second appearance for the team. Then, Ivan Rakitic represented Croatia in Euro 2008, Euro 2012, World Cup 2014, Euro 2016, 2018 World Cup, and 2018-2019 Nations League. Rakitic celebrated his 100th Cap for the country in the 2018-19 Nations League.
STYLE OF PLAY:
Rakitic is a perfect box-to-box midfielder with great playmaking qualities. His stamina and defensive skills are amongst his top strengths. Furthermore, his technique, vision, and passing skills are world class which enabled him to perform at the highest stages in club and international level football. He has the ability to break down the toughest defenses with one pass and his sense of dropping down in order to help his defense has helped Barcelona to break many dangerous attacks. Not to mention, his goalscoring skills are really evident.
Rakitic’s placement and finishing ability are one of the best from this generation’s midfielders. Furthermore, his long range shots and his ability to strike the ball outside the box with power and placement are fantastic and there are really few players who can do that. Rakitic has the ability to play as a center midfielder, center attacking midfielder, holding midfielder, as well as box to box midfielder in general. The former Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Manchester United’s manager Jose Mourinho praised Rakitic:
“He is fantastic on all levels; he defends, he runs and he’s sensible with the ball at his feet”.
<– Jose Mourinho –>
<– On Ivan Rakitic –>
WEAKNESS:
One potential weakness I can think of in Rakitic’s game is not being able to perform well under a high press. This is something you don’t expect from a Barcelona player. However, this isn’t much of a concern as well. This is because when you have the touch, vision, and passing skills like Ivan Rakitic, you don’t allow the opposition to high press you in the first place.
Still, as I mentioned before that Rakitic is a great player, but, still a human being after all. You cannot expect him to be perfect in every part of the game. No one actually can stand up to the reputation of being the most perfect player, not even Messi or Ronaldo or any other legend of the game.
Ivan Rakitic Mistreatment At FC Barcelona:
Rakitic played most minutes for Barca in the 2018/19 season. However, this season, he has had the least game time among the first-choice players which is totally wrong. The club has openly admitted that Raktic is not in their plans and they want to sell him. I am against this kind of mistreatment and all I have to say is that Ivan Rakitic deserves better. It’s OK if the club wants to put him on the transfer list. However, at least have the courtesy to let him enjoy his time while he is at Barcelona.
At the very start of the article, I wrote that Rakitic can still play 3-4 good seasons at top level depending upon his fitness. However, if the manager is not going to use him, his market value is going to drop immensely. Rakitic is a kind of midfielder any team would want to be on their team list. However, if he is not playing regularly, no scout or club is going to show interest in him.
In today’s market, Rakitic is easily worth around 50 Million Euros. However, the club has publicly stated that Rakitic is for sale. Moreover, we are not giving him any game time. So, in these conditions, no club would be willing to spend that kind of money on Rakitic. First of all, there would be very few suiters for him. Secondly, we would receive cheap bids because everyone knows that we are desperate to sell Rakitic.
What kind of message are we sending to the world with the mistreatment of Ivan Rakitic? If things continue going this way, players would start hesitating before joining our club. So, the mistreatment of Ivan Rakitic is not only bad for him on individual terms, but, also bad for the club’s finance and reputation. Personally, I also want Rakitic to leave the club, but not like this. We have to part ways on good terms. Therefore, I want Rakitic to play more often which will not only bring him back to his form but also increase his market value which is going to help the club in more ways than expected.
VERDICT:
The purpose of creating this article was to share my true feelings for the Croatian Midfielder. I really like Ivan Rakitic and I surely want him to play regularly to the best of his abilities. Rakitic is the player who stood for us on many occasions. He is a gem. He has helped our team every now and then. No matter how much we ignore him, his performances and records somehow still come in front of us.
Ivan Rakitic is the player who has given his all to this team and now this kind of mistreatment from the club is way beyond disappointment. He took Iniesta’s place as the best midfielder in the Barcelona squad. If he is allowed to perform freely without being able to just stick to a position, he will rise and show what his true potential is. Sadly, Valverde is restricting him to be the player we all know he is. Basically, he is a soldier who will obey the order without any question. Means, he never complained about why the manager played him in an alien position. He always kept his head high and did the job to the best of his capabilities. He has sacrificed a lot for the team. After everything he has done for us, This kind of mistreatment is not what he actually deserves.
Anyways, this is it, guys. We tried to cover the whole career of Ivan Rakitic in a Nutshell. We hope you like the article. Let us know your thoughts on the Mistreatment of Ivan Rakitic at Barcelona. Do you think Valverde should start using him more often? We appreciate your feedback and your thoughts on our content. Until the next time, Visca El Barca!
