Ivan Rakitić

[Total-Football]

Excellent today.

That cross to Messi was insane.

Best crosser in the team and a real mystery how Messi takes corners instead of him. Should also save Messi the trouble of running extra 80 meters to and back from the corner flag.

 

[Stoichkov1]

Best crosser in the team and a real mystery how Messi takes corners instead of him. Should also save Messi the trouble of running extra 80 meters to and back from the corner flag.

messi is a midget so it makes sense.

 

[JamDav1982]

messi is a midget so it makes sense.

Yeah Rakitic is one of the better players in air so needed in box.

Coutinho prob best set piece taker in squad now. Rather Messi just saved the legs and walked about edge of box during corners.

 

[Zincubus]

Yeah Rakitic is one of the better players in air so needed in box.

Coutinho prob best set piece taker in squad now. Rather Messi just saved the legs and walked about edge of box during corners.

They should at least share the free kicks - suited to Right and Left footers but Messi won't share.. bet hes taken 95% of free kicks over the years

 

[RMU ReBorn]

They should at least share the free kicks - suited to Right and Left footers but Messi won't share.. bet hes taken 95% of free kicks over the years

Is that the reason why Neymar scored a Fk against Psg . Messi has given free kicks to Neymar numerous times . Even suarez was a given a chance and he scored against Betis last year . You have short term memory .

 

[CatalinR10]

Shame for the sitter he missed , other than that really good game from rakitic the bitch.

 

[CanadianBlaugrana]

I’ve liked Ivan quite a bit since he’s joined the team but I’m not digging his new platinum blonde dye job. Cosmetics aside, he’s great for a surprise goal on occasion and is a decent playmaker.

 

[Albo]

Should dye his hair more often if he plays like this. Completely different Rakitic from what I saw earlier in the season.

 

[Gilberto]

Should dye his hair more often if he plays like this. Completely different Rakitic from what I saw earlier in the season.

I like this RakiBleach as well, he was everywhere.

 

[Messi983]

He was never as bad as people made him out to be at start of the season anyway but still great to see that he's playing much better now and even his "haters" admit that.

 

[BusiTheKing]

I think his biggest negative is still how slow he is on the first few metres, although he seems to be quite intelligent with moving in tight areas and actually going past players without getting himself into sprinting duels.

 

[Messi983]

You can mask physical deficiencies with inteligent movement. Busi, Xavi and Iniesta are or were doing this for almost their whole careers. They were never fast even when younger but they were often where they had to be before opponents because of their high football IQ. Of course they were also exposed sometimes against faster players but not as often as they would be without their abilities to predict what will happen a few steps ahead. Obviously Rakitić is not on their level individually but he' still a very smart player. Otherwise Lucho and EV wouldn't consider him indispensable.

 

[Joan]

Barca reddit was right? Complete midfielder?

 

[Devils]

Not a complete midfielder but a very good one when on form.

If you want to see a complete midfielder, watch Modric last season or KDB this year. That's a complete midfielder.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

He wasn't bought to become Barca's complete Midfielder . He has a specific role in the team and and is executing that to perfection under Ev. Lucho didn't had a clue on how to use Raki, after his first two seasons when his tactics became outdated . Without Dani's creative spark , he kept Raki on right and , there was no one to create space for Messi which forced him to move centrally as a result Rw was dead . Sergi was reluctant to attack untill the end of last season . By that time season was done and dusted