Ivan Rakitić (Croatian pronunciation: [ǐʋan rǎkititɕ];[4][5] born 10 March 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a central or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Sevilla and the Croatia national team. Regarded for his long-range acrobatic shots and his defensive work-rate he was considered to be one of the most underrated players in the world.[6][7]
Rakitić started his professional career at Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was signed by Schalke 04. After spending three-and-a-half seasons in the Bundesliga, he was signed by Sevilla in January 2011. Two years later, Rakitić was confirmed as the club captain and captained the team to UEFA Europa League triumph. In June 2014, Barcelona and Sevilla reached an agreement on the transfer of Rakitić. In his first season with Barça, he won the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. He scored the first goal of the 2015 Champions League final and became the first player ever to win the Champions League a year after winning the Europa League while playing for two clubs. After appearing in 310 games and winning ten more trophies with Barcelona, Rakitić returned to Sevilla in 2020.
Born in Switzerland to parents from Yugoslavia, Rakitić played for Switzerland at youth level, but decided to represent Croatia at senior level. He made his debut for the Croatia national team in 2007 and has since represented the country at UEFA Euro 2008, 2012 and 2016, and the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup, reaching the final of the latter. He retired from international duty in September 2020, having made 106 appearances. At the time of his retirement, he was the fourth most capped player in the history of Croatia.
Early life
Rakitić was born in Rheinfelden[8] in the Swiss canton of Aargau to Croat parents. His father Luka Rakitić is a Šokac from Sikirevci in Croatia,[9][10] while his mother Kata (née Papić) is a Bosnian Croat from Ponijevo near Žepče.[11][12] He grew up in Möhlin, canton of Aargau.[13] He has a brother, Dejan, and a sister, Nikol. Rakitić has a tattoo bearing his brother's name on his right arm.[14] Rakitić spent his childhood and early career in Switzerland. His father and older brother were also footballers. At age 16, his potential was noticed by top European scouts, but he and his family decided to stay at Basel to allow him to play more regularly in a smaller league instead.[14]
Club career
Basel
After spending some short time in the youth teams, Rakitić went on to make his first-team debut for Basel on 29 September 2005 during the UEFA Cup away match at Široki Brijeg. He made his first Swiss Super League appearance on 15 April 2006 in Basel's away match against Neuchâtel Xamax. Although these two matches were the only ones he played during his first professional season with Basel, he went on to establish himself as a regular contributor in his second season, scoring 11 goals in 33 Super League appearances. Also making nine UEFA cup appearances during this time, he was named the best young player of the 2006–07 Super League season along with receiving the Swiss Goal of the Year award for an impressive goal he scored against St. Gallen on 22 October 2006.[15]
Schalke 04
After an impressive showing as a teenager, Rakitić was again sought by large European clubs.[14] Subject to such, he was eventually signed by German side Schalke 04 on 22 June 2007, for €5 million.[16]
Rakitić made his debut for Schalke on 21 July 2007 in the Premiere Ligapokal fixture against Karlsruher SC and eventually appeared in the remaining two matches as Schalke finished as league runners-up. On 5 August 2007, Rakitić scored his first competitive goal for his new club in their 0–9 away win over Eintracht Trier in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.[17]
On 10 August 2007, the new Bundesliga season was commenced with a clash between champions VfB Stuttgart and Schalke. Rakitić came on as a second-half substitute and scored his first Bundesliga goal within just seven minutes on the field as his side played out a 2–2 draw.[18] On 15 September 2007, he managed to make impressions again by scoring the only goal for Schalke in their 1–1 away draw at Bayern Munich.[19] Three days later, Rakitić made his UEFA Champions League debut in the 0–1 home defeat to Valencia. He then went on to make a total of seven appearances in the 2007–08 Champions League season,[20] including a strong and very impressive midfield role in Schalke's home fixture against Chelsea in the group stage. He and former teammate Mladen Krstajić were temporarily cut from the squad the night before Schalke's next fixture against Rosenborg due to being caught skipping training and taking part in a late-night partying.[21] Helping his side prevail in the penalty shootout against Porto to reach the quarter-finals for the first time,[22] Rakitić had to miss both the fixtures of such against Chelsea due to an ankle injury sustained in training. He was kept out of action for a month[23] as Schalke were eliminated from the tournament without him.[citation needed]
Shortly upon his returning from injury, Rakitić discovered top form as he scored a goal and assisted another two in the vital 0–3 victory at VfL Bochum,[24] which made sure Schalke finished at least third in league table and secured a place in the next Champions League. He continued such form in the next fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt, assisting Mladen Krstajić for the only goal of the match to conclude with Schalke a positive home season. In total, he finished his first Bundesliga season with 3 goals and 10 assists in 29 appearances.[25] In the subsequent season, Rakitić played in Schalke's 3–0 victory over Hannover 96, assisting two goals in the opening Bundesliga fixture.[26]
Sevilla
2010–11 season
On 28 January 2011, Rakitić signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Spanish La Liga club Sevilla for a transfer fee of €2.5 million.[27] Upon his arrival, Rakitić was immediately included in the starting XI of the team, making his debut on 6 February 2011 against Málaga. In next game, against Racing de Santander, he scored an own-goal but managed to get back on track and scored his first goal for Sevilla in the match against Hércules in the next matchday. Due to a fractured foot, Rakitić was forced to miss the last four La Liga fixtures.[28] He scored five goals in his first half-season with Sevilla in 2010–11, starting in all 13 matches after his arrival and before the foot injury.[citation needed]
2011–12 season
During the 2011–12 season, Rakitić continued to be a first team regular and a key component of the squad. Due to managerial changes and new tactical schemes introduced by new coach Marcelino, who was later replaced by Míchel, Rakitić was given a different role on the pitch than the one he had the previous season, when he was used as central midfielder under coach Gregorio Manzano; during the course of the season, he was mostly deployed as a defensive midfielder. By the end of the season, he made total of 39 appearances for the club, provided six assists and scored one goal in the 2011–12 Copa del Rey. This turned out to be his only goalless Liga season while playing for Sevilla.[citation needed]
2012–13 season
Rakitić began the 2012–13 La Liga season by providing an assist in the opening match against Getafe. On 12 September, he provided another assist for Piotr Trochowski at home in a 1–0 win over Real Madrid. He scored his first goal of the season on Matchday 5 against Deportivo de La Coruña. Rakitić scored two goals in the opening 20 minutes of the second Seville derby of the season against cross-city rivals Real Betis.[29] This was his third goal of the season against Sevilla's city rivals, given the fact that he had also scored in the first Seville derby of the season, when Sevilla celebrated a 5–1 victory. During the match against Real Sociedad, Rakitić added two goals to his tally, however, the second one was an own goal, tying the match at 1–1 after he scored the first goal to give his club a 1–0 lead.[30] Until the end of the season, he made total of 42 appearances for the club and scored 12 goals for the team, three coming in the Copa del Rey. He also finished the season providing ten league assists. Statistics showed that Rakitić created 100 chances in total, a sum ranking fourth across all players in Europe that season.[31]
2013–14 season
At the beginning of the 2013–14 La Liga season, coach Unai Emery named Rakitić as the new Sevilla captain.[32] Since the beginning of the season, he was one of the most prominent players of the league, scoring the first goal and assisting for the second in a 3–2 away loss against Barcelona on 14 September. In the two last games of September, he scored two goals in a 1–4 away win over Rayo Vallecano, and assisted for the draw 1–1 goal against Real Sociedad. In the final three games of October, Rakitić scored a goal in a 2–0 home win against SC Freiburg, a 2–1 home win over Almería and two goals in a 7–3 loss at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium against Real Madrid.[33] In the third and fourth games of November, he contributed an assist in away 1–3 win against Espanyol, and two more respectively in a 4–0 home win against Sevilla rivals Betis. In the last game of December, he assisted in a 1–2 away win against Villarreal, helping Sevilla reach a top ten position after a disappointing start of the season, as well attracting attention from other international clubs.[34][35] In the first game of the 2014 calendar year, he scored in a 3–0 home win against Getafe. In January, he scored two more La Liga goals for Sevilla against Atlético Madrid[36] and Levante, respectively, while also missing a penalty kick in the latter fixture.[37] These performances earned him a La Liga Player of the Month award.[38]
Rakitić's impressive form continued in the season, with several assists and goals from February to May, including two assists in the Europa League 2–2 away draw against Maribor, an assist in the 2–1 home win over Real Madrid and a goal against Porto in a 4–1 home win. He also assisted in the semi-final first leg 2–0 win over Valencia, which they won on aggregate (3–3), thus qualifying for the Europa League Final. He was man of the match as Sevilla won the Final 4–2 on penalties over Benfica at Juventus Stadium in Turin.[39] He was the first player to captain a team to victory in the UEFA Europa League Final and also pick up the official man of the match award.[40] He was included in the UEFA Europa League Team of the Season.[41] By the Spanish national football league association, Rakitić was chosen in La Liga first XI in both first round, and team of the season.[42][43] He finished the season scoring 15 goals, and recording 17 assists.[44] At the season's LFP Awards, Rakitić won the Fair Play Award and was nominated for Best Midfielder, an award ultimately given to Barcelona's Andrés Iniesta.[45]
Barcelona
2014–15 season
On 16 June 2014, Barcelona signed Rakitić on a five-year contract effective 1 July.[46][47] Upon his arrival, Rakitić was given the squad shirt number 4. He made his debut for the team in a pre-season friendly match against French club Nice on 2 August, when he came on as a second-half substitute for Sergi Roberto.[48] During a pre-season friendly against HJK Helsinki, Rakitić provided his first assists for Barça, assisting twice in 6–0 victory.[49] His official debut for Barcelona came on 24 August in the opening match of the new Liga season, against Elche. Just moments after half-time, Rakitić played a long ball over-top of Elche's defence towards forward Munir, who flicked the ball it into the far corner of the net to make it 2–0 for Barcelona.[50]
Rakitić's first goal for Barcelona came from outside of the penalty area in a 0–5 away win against Levante on 21 September 2014.[51] In the next week's game, against Granada, Rakitić headed in Lionel Messi's cross for his second goal of the season in a 6–0 victory at Camp Nou.[52] On 18 March 2015, Rakitić scored the first Champions League goal of his career in a 1–0 win against English champions Manchester City in the round of 16 second leg at Camp Nou.[53]
On 6 June 2015, Rakitić scored the opening goal in a 3–1 win against Italian champions Juventus in the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final at Berlin's Olympiastadion, becoming the second Croat ever to score in a Champions League final (after Mario Mandžukić in 2013).[54] This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice.[55] Rakitić, for the second year in a row, was included in the La Liga and European (Champions League) team of the season.[56][57]
2015–16 season
On 11 August 2015, Rakitić played the full 120 minutes as Barcelona defeated his former club Sevilla 5–4 to win the 2015 UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi.[58] In October, he was announced Croatian Footballer of the Year 2015.[59][60] As an 18th-minute substitute for Sergi Roberto, on 20 October he scored both goals from Neymar assists as Barcelona won 2–0 at BATE Borisov in the Champions League group stage.[61] In December, he was named Croatian Sportsman of the Year 2015.[62] On 30 April 2016, Rakitić scored the opener against Betis as Barcelona won 0–2 to stay top of the Liga table.[63]
2016–17 season
On 23 April 2017, Rakitić scored the second goal in a 3–2 away victory against Real Madrid in El Clásico.[64]
2017–18 season
On 12 September 2017, Rakitić netted a goal against Juventus in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, as Barcelona defeated the previous season's Italian champions 3–0 at home.[65]
2018–19 season
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On 3 December 2018, in a Champions League group stage game against Tottenham Hotspur, he scored the second Barça's goal in the 4–2 triumph.[66] The strike was later named the Goal of the Group Stage by fans.[67]
On 2 March 2019, Rakitić scored the only goal of the match against Real Madrid; after which José Mourinho identified him as "one of the most underrated players in the world".[6][7]
2019–20 season
Rakitić's playing time was severely reduced during the 2019–20 season and his role in the team decreased following the arrival of Frenkie de Jong.[68] In October 2019 the player stated: "I want to play, and not just enjoy walking around Barcelona and the sea. I talked to the people in the club, everyone knew about the other options I had, it was no secret."[69]
On 13 June 2020, in Barcelona's first game after the COVID-19 pandemic, Rakitić celebrated his 300th official game in Barcelona's jersey as the club defeated Mallorca 4–0.[70] On 23 June, he scored his first goal of the season in a 1–0 victory over Athletic Bilbao, securing important three points in the title race.[71][72] After Barcelona lost 8–2 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final on 14 August and coach Quique Setién was sacked, newly appointed coach Ronald Koeman informed Rakitić that he was not part of his plans for the upcoming season, alongside teammates Luis Suárez, Arturo Vidal and Samuel Umtiti.[73] At the time of his departure from the club, Rakitić had more appearances for the club than any other European non-Spanish player in its history.[74]