Speechless!
Ivan Rakitic was lost for words against Valencia. It's the perfect expression of La Liga's most underrated player
Sevilla's captain Ivan Rakitic gave an interview on Thursday night after Stephane M'bia's last-gasp, last-minute goal sent them through to a Europa League final in Turin that they hadn't even qualified for. It was a classic. "It's ... pfff ... erm ... ahh ... what do you want me to say?"
Sort of an anti-quote, if you like. It grabs the eye because of its lack of anything definitive expressed. A verbal shrug of the shoulders, pure emotion encapsulated in a few short words. And yet this was much more tangible than almost every other interview given in football this week. Sid Lowe put it best; it is why we watch football.
It put the humanity back in the game, it expressed (or rather, didn't) everything the ordinary fan experiences. And it came from a man who, fittingly, would be called John if he were born in this country.
Some names appear to be destined for large, flashing lights, masses of people in a particular part of the world screaming their name, and overt sexual requests on Twitter. Cristiano Ronaldo. Neymar Junior. These men would never be dentists, or salespeople. And yet Rakitic is as integral to his team as Ronaldo, and statistically has performed better than Neymar all season, at a smaller club with infinitely smaller resources. Case in point: Sevilla's wage budget this season is €41 million. Barca's is €195 million.
Ivan Rakitic sounds like he could be an ordinary guy, and continuing the name-as-occupation theme, he could easily be a postman. Or some sort of eyecare consultant. As mentioned, the name 'Ivan' is the Slavic derivation of 'John', and we all know a John. If he plays a sport, it's snooker, or maybe badminton. He's probably an accountant, he's generally quite dependable, he's attractive to a reasonable percentage of the opposite sex.
Neymar, Brazil's no 10, seems to exist in some ethereal nickname hinterland, probably with a variety of other Brazilian number tens, an amalgamation of Brazilian society, sports merchandising and football history. He's emblematic of contemporary superstardom - a man defined more by ideas, ad campaigns, than flesh and blood. Perhaps that is why his performances this year have not always grabbed the eye - as if we weren't quite dialled in to the right frequency, he seems to have disappeared and then burst back into focus. It is as though the metaphysical has become physical and is now crushing the life out of Brazil's new favourite son.
My point, anyway, is that despite Rakitic consistently outperforming one of the world's most famous players, and star of Nike's latest fantasy football ad, it appears he does not garner the same adulation. Why?
His club is an important part of that. Rakitic plays for Sevilla, not Real, nor Barcelona, who dwarf their respective counterparts to such an extent it once prompted Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid's manager, to pronounce the league 'a boring championship for the rest of the supporters who can only aspire to be third or fourth.' That Simeone is rightly being hailed as a masterful coach on the verge of a Champions League and league double with Atleti is evidence of this.
This season Sevilla are 5th, six points off Athletic for the final qualifying Champions League place, after two consecutive ninth placed finishes. They're only in Europe because UEFA kicked Malaga and Rayo Vallecano for overzealous spending and financial 'irregularities'. Although a 3-0 defeat to the Basques last weekend means that it's likely Sevilla will play Europa, not Champions League football next season, their upswing in form has been nothing short of amazing. Rakitic has been with the club since 2011 after joining from Schalke 04, and after a slightly slow start, this seems to be the season everything has clicked.
The most obvious evidence is his goals to games ratio. As a Sevilla player he has 27 goals in three years. He has scored 12 of those this season, and made 10 more, pushing Sevilla up the table. He's also part of a Sevilla team that is considerably more durable, turning losses and draws into draws and wins. Only Ronaldo, Diego Costa and team-mate Kevin Gameiro have scored more goals than him in the last 15 minutes of a match, making Sevilla, along with Madrid, a consistently difficult side to beat - and particularly dangerous in the final few moments, never better evidenced than that last, unbelievable minute against Valencia on Thursday night.
Rakitic is also part of a midfield which retains the ball expertly whether home or away - they play nearly 50% of their football in the middle third in the pitch - and work hard to retrieve it, with the highest pass interception rate of all the top 5 teams.
Whilst he has always featured in the centre of midfield, it's the number 10 role which has apparently made him a target for Napoli and Liverpool. He can score from anywhere in midfield but all of his ten assists this season have come from him playing as an attacking central midfielder. Such is his importance to Sevilla that he has a higher pass completion rate than any of his team-mates - it currently stands at 79.6%, comparable to the league's best players, including Bale and Ronaldo at Madrid.
Finally his skill with playing long balls means he's highly effective at shifting the point of play very quickly, which would probably appeal to Brendan Rodgers, currently using Steven Gerrard in a similar role, and Rafa Benitez, who of course signed Xabi Alonso for Liverpool upon joining the club.
Rakitic is due to play at this year's World Cup for Croatia alongside Madrid's Luka Modric, who has had an outstanding year playing as one of Ancelotti's volantes in his 'Christmas tree' formation. His opponents? Mexico, Cameroon - and Brazil. It will be interesting to see how a man who fronts an ad campaign for a bank - connection: the bank is Brazilian - faces up to a man who has outperformed him all season, but can't even give a quote after a football match.
Pic courtesy of The Star
