Ivan Rakitić

[Dado]

He should have stayed on. He did not play the 2 games for Croatia and was fully rested coming in.

Maybe he was being saved for CL ... but still the sub makes no sense. If anyone should have been subed it was Suarez.

 

[Observer]

Should have never been subbed in the first place, his yellow might have triggered it.

 

[El Flaco]

We fell apart once he was subbed off.

 

[utility73]

He had a very good though not flawless performance tonight. Best behind Busquets. Not sure if he was subbed of because he ran out of juice.
From a tactical point of view (and seeing the match in isolation)alone it was a big mistake to take him off.

 

[Theoden]

Wish we had second Rakitic on the pitch.

 

[te amo barca]

Wish we had second Rakitic on the pitch.

We have him, his name is Roberto...

 

[JamDav1982]

I seem to have watched a different game than others.

Thought Raki was really struggling defensively as game wore on and equaliser he couldn't cope with Marcelo after being skinned by him a few times and probably should have been booked earlier.

Not all Rakis fault as no help from Messi but I was shouting for him to be subbed off for Roberto.

 

[Mitchell1978]

His sub changed the game, Arda can't do what Rakitic does defensively.

 

[Flavia]

I knew it was a bad decision to sub him off... Game was lost there. Maybe Roberto would had helped, arda should be a sub for Iniesta or one of MSN, not for Rakitic.

 

[dakt]

I seem to have watched a different game than others.

Thought Raki was really struggling defensively as game wore on and equaliser he couldn't cope with Marcelo after being skinned by him a few times and probably should have been booked earlier.

Not all Rakis fault as no help from Messi but I was shouting for him to be subbed off for Roberto.

Yep, you were watching completely something else. Maybe "The Nanny"?

 

[JamDav1982]

I knew it was a bad decision to sub him off... Game was lost there. Maybe Roberto would had helped, arda should be a sub for Iniesta or one of MSN, not for Rakitic.

He looked fucked and Marcelo tore away from him for equaliser and he was lucky not to get booked for kicking Marcelo as he was away, then got booked not long after it.

Was right decision to take him off to me and he was struggling. Wrong player came on and they continued to attack Arda as they did Raki.

 

[Kohe321]

Who knows, perhaps Roberto with fresh legs would've marked Cristiano before the goal? Impossible to say, but we lost much of our grit when Rakitic was subbed off. Something that paired very poorly with the entire teams dropping intensity and focus.

A player hungry to prove himself could make a difference. I think Roberto not playing a single minute in this game was a mistake by Lucho.

 

[Dado]

I seem to have watched a different game than others.

Thought Raki was really struggling defensively as game wore on and equaliser he couldn't cope with Marcelo after being skinned by him a few times and probably should have been booked earlier.

Not all Rakis fault as no help from Messi but I was shouting for him to be subbed off for Roberto.

Rakitic was primarily guarding Kroos, Marcelo who is a left back was someone elses man, and that someone else sometimes forgets he is a right back and not a striker.

 

[jairzinho]

This sub was the SINGULAR defining moment in this game. We lost shape in a drastic way after his exit, and mind you we were already reeling defensively somewhat. To be fair to Lucho he wanted Raki out both for rest and also because of the yellow. But even then, Sergi was the better replacement. Clear mental feckup from Lucho there.

 

[serghei]

Please, no tactical analysis is needed here. Our wingers have to track back in these games. It's the reason the opponent has numerical advantage going forward. It's not Rakitic's or Iniesta's job to defend the opponent's fullbacks incursions.