Ivan Rakitic: “Flick’s evolution clearly started with Xavi”

A Barcelona legend in his own right, Ivan Rakitic might soon announce his retirement. Now at Hajduk Split, in Croatia, the legendary midfielder has won the Champions League and the Europa League and was in a World Cup final. In a recent interview with Flashscore, Rakitic talked about his career, Luis Enrique, the UCL final, and also about Flick’s brilliant Barça.

“Flick’s evolution clearly started with Xavi. Xavi brought in all those young players who are taking Barcelona forward. I think that these young players have been very important. Xavi was a coach who gave them the opportunity and taught them what it really means to be a top-level Barcelona player or what the requirements are”, Rako explains, before continuing “in the end have to congratulate the president of Barca, Juan Laporta, because it was 100% the right decision to hire Hansi Flick, although I would have liked Xavi to continue a little bit longer. This season, the young players have improved week by week. Everyone is happy to see that there’s a very clear evolution.”

About Lamine Yamal, the Croatian international explains “I think that all the merit goes to Yamal with what he’s doing. We all agree that it’s unusual for a 17-year-old. First of all, there’s no need to compare him with anybody, especially because there is no comparison with Messi.” And Rakitic has an idea of the Yamal’s chances in this year’s Ballon d’Or, “If Yamal had reached the Champions League final I don’t think we would have any doubts he would win the Ballon d’Or this year. Though it’s an individual award, titles also count. Then there is (Ousmane) Dembele with the Champions League final, especially with how he’s playing in the final month, I think he’s also a possible winner.”

For the former Barça player, a key element to the success this season was that “I think they have about 16 players who are playing at the top level. It’s good we can see there’s no problem with egos. This strength of being united is very important in great teams. I think it’s important to have a healthy team that helps each other, and Barcelona has done that, apart from having incredible individual quality.”