Ivan Rakitic played for FC Barcelona for six years. The Swiss-Croatian won the Champions League once with the team. He is certain that his record in the top flight could have been much better.
Ivan Rakitic began his impressive career at FC Basel before joining FC Barcelona via Schalke and Sevilla. Rakitic spent the most successful time of his career with the Catalans. He became Spanish champion and cup winner four times and won the Champions League in 2015.
The 2018 World Cup finalist spoke about his time at Barça on the Canal Sur radio show. Rakitic, who pulled the strings in midfield, is firmly convinced that more could have been possible with the Catalans and referred to the time after the 2014/15 treble season under coach Luis Enrique.
"In my opinion - and I say this with respect for our opponents - it was all down to boredom ... Everyone praised us and said we were the best team in the world, and we went out on the pitch thinking about everything but football."
Boredom influenced us
"We simply blew it against Roma and Liverpool," Rakitic sums up. In the 2018 Champions League quarter-final, they lost 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico after a 4-1 win in the first leg at the Camp Nou. A year later, Barça won 3-0 at home against Liverpool in the semi-final, but suffered a 4-0 defeat at Anfield Road in the second leg. Ernesto Valverde was the coach on both occasions.
"I'm convinced that boredom affected us, that we felt too superior. If you don't give your best, you don't win. If we had kept our hunger, we would have won one or two more Champions League titles," the 36-year-old is certain.
After six years at Barça, the Croatian, who grew up in Möhlin in Aargau, returned to Sevilla before moving to Al-Shabab at the start of 2024. After six months, the midfielder left Saudi Arabia and signed for Hajduk Split. "It was a decision from the heart - my wife Raquel gave me the final push. She told me that she would like to go with the whole family. I'm just proud to be in my country, to play in the Croatian league and to show my family my country," said Rakitic.
