As Pedri excelled against Real Sociedad, Culers may be able to find it in their hearts to begin to give the ones that stepped aside some respect. Arturo Vidal went gone to Italy, but Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic both stayed in Spain, with Atletico Madrid and Sevilla respectively. As he did while at the Camp Nou, Rakitic has always been willing to give his time for interviews and conversations about the state of football.
Most recently, he spoke about Messi and the Argentine’s future at the club. While we all have an opinion on whether Messi will stay beyond this year or not, there should be some weight given to the word’s of a former teammate that shared the dressing room with him for a few seasons. La Liga Santander player Ivan Rakitic, speaking at an event for LiveScore, said:
I think this has to be his decision and he needs to do what is best for him and the club. I think all of the people at FC Barcelona and fans of the club are still behind him, so he has to be clear with himself, with his family, the club and all of the fans. I’m sure he will make the right decision for sure.
Okay, so maybe he was playing it cool, if he knew anything at all. In truth, the only chance of Messi staying may come down to the elections in January and the slim chance that the new president can convince him to stay. Rakitic was diplomatic about that subject too:
I hope that he has a lot of years left and that he decides what is best for him and for FC Barcelona. I had six amazing years playing with him at FC Barcelona and it’s really amazing to have played with him and been on the same team, so hopefully he can stay many more years at FC Barcelona.
Ivan Rakitic got a lot of hate from Culers and certainly wasn’t happy when he was almost frozen out of the squad, but he always played for the crest and kept a good profile with the media.
Ivan Rakitic was speaking at an event for LiveScore, Official Global Scoring Partner of LaLiga Santander. LiveScore’s iOS and Android app is available to download now: www.livescore.com/mobile
