7m Exclusive - Ivan Rakitic

Posted Saturday, March 04, 2017 by 7M Sport

He grew up in Switzerland. He played football in Germany and Spain. He also played for the Croatia national football team.

He is Ivan Rakitic.

This unique experience helped him enjoy a chance to taste different styles.

Before joining Barcelona, Ivan Rakitic played for Sevilla. However, their soccer philosophy is totally different from that of Barcelona.

Barcelona will start short passes from deep, while Sevilla will sometimes take advantage of long passes to tackle the pressing.

Rakitic changed his style after coming to Barcelona.

This week, let's learn more about him.

He wore the number four shirt because of Pep Guardiola. When he first arrived, he had two to three choices. However, when he knew the number four shirt left void, he took it without hesitation as the Croatia star idolized Pep.

Ivan Rakitic is the player with most appearances under Luis Enrique after joining Barcelona in 2014.

He reached his 100th official appearance for FC Barcelona in less than two seasons.

A goal in Barcelona's 2-0 win over Real Betis took Rakitic's tally to nine for 2015-16, which made him the club's highest scorer in that season behind Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

When he moves forward to the penalty area, he is not afraid of committing himself.

He cannot dribble like Messi, act like Neymar, or make a pass like Iniesta, but he has tried to show his characters.

Xavier praised him for playing in a box-to-box midfield role, moving between the attacking line and the defensive line, and providing assists to the strikers.

In Barcelona, the defensive midfielders and defenders need to make a lot of effort to regain the ball and offer the best supply to the group in attacking areas.

After they lost the ball, others should try to regain the ball as soon as possible to recreate the opportunity.

What's worth mentioning is that Rakitic tries to play in any position that needs him in any time, although he must play in midfield. He cannot take up too advanced positions or sit too deep.

In Sevilla, he sometimes took up the second striker position.

In Barcelona, he even played as a centre back at the end of the match.

Whenever the coach needs to change the tactics, he will try his best to support the team.