Real Madrid Confidencial Rakitic destroys FC Barcelona for its Champions League failures, points to the stars
The former Barça footballer left a message that Barça fans will not like at all
Ivan Rakitic, former FC Barcelona footballer, gave an interview to the newspaper "SPORT" to talk about some episodes from his sports career. The Croatian footballer fondly remembered his time at Barça, but admitted he still has a thorn in his side. In his opinion, they could have won many more Champions League titles, although they only lifted one in 2015.
According to Ivan Rakitic, one of the main reasons why Barça dropped its level was the departure of Xavi Hernández. "I've said it many times: We let ourselves go. Without Xavi, all those details he had under control slipped away from us along the way", he commented.
"It's a shame because we could have won three or four Champions League titles", added Ivan Rakitic. Meanwhile, Real Madrid managed to win up to three Champions League titles in a row.
Rakitic believes that Barça's decline was due to Xavi Hernández's departure
"If they hadn't signed him when he was in Qatar, all the culés would have had a big problem", explained Ivan Rakitic regarding Xavi Hernández and his departure.
"Xavi gave opportunities to all those kids who are now shining so much. He had that ability to put them where he needed to put them", stated the former Barça player.
In addition, Ivan Rakitic was also unable to explain the reason why Barça players let themselves go. "If it were that easy to explain or fix, we would have fixed it right then. Sometimes it happens that you just stop paying a little attention to those details", he explained.
"From winning an average match in the group stage or preparing well for a second leg after clearly winning the first leg at home. You let things slip and in the end, soccer, especially at the highest level, punishes you. It punished us a lot, honestly", he added.
His words about the famous 2-8 against Bayern Munich
Finally, Ivan Rakitic was also asked about the famous Champions League match against Bayern Munich that ended 2-8. "I hope it wouldn't have happened with me... No, I'm not happy, because I already knew about my situation and I told the club that I wanted to leave, but I made it clear that I wanted to help", he commented.
"We also faced Bayern right when they were like a machine, but there were moments in the match when we were there. We lacked a bit of balance, of strength in those small details. It makes me sadder every day because I wanted to be there to help the team", he concluded.
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