Ivan Rakitic Names The Only Player Barcelona Will Follow

Ivan Rakitić is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a central or attacking midfielder for Spanish club Barcelona and the Croatia national team. Rakitić started his professional career at Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was signed by Schalke 04.

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Lionel Messi is “the best player in history” and the man Barcelona’s players will once again look at to guide them past Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals, according to Ivan Rakitic.

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Argentina forward Messi won his 10th La Liga title at the weekend with Barca, whose focus now turns to a last-four clash with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in Europe’s premier club competition.

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Messi is a four-time Champions League winner too and it is the 31-year-old who Klopp’s Reds must worry about most at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

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Such expectation brings extra pressure, yet Rakitic insists Barca’s team-mates will also look to Messi to make the difference.

“Whenever our captain says something, we’re there to follow him,” the Croatia midfielder told a news conference on Tuesday.

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“There’s a special added pressure to win the Champions League. Barca has played so well in the last few years that that adds pressure.

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“Leo has been [a La Liga] champion 10 times in 15 years and seeing him lift the cup with extreme happiness engages us. If he’s so happy to win every time it makes the rest of us more eager.

“We know we’re Barca and following the best player in history gives us more confidence.

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“Messi has already won four Champions Leagues – he won’t get nervous. What needs to be understood is that Leo is ahead of us and we follow him.

“We’ve proven we’re ready in every game. We want to be in the final in Madrid. We know the last few years haven’t been great for us in this competition, so we want to get there this year.”

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While last year’s Champions League runners-up Liverpool may not possess a single individual on Messi’s level, their vaunted front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have once again excelled this term.

However, Rakitic has highlighted how difficult they are to break down at the other end.