Ivan Rakitic returns to Croatia, the country of his parents and which he chose as a national team, to play against Dinamo Zagreb in the second leg of the round of 32. The Sevilla midfielder congratulates himself on returning to Maksimir: “It’s nice to play in that stadium, where the national team’s journey began for me. I’m glad to have this opportunity and show my people in Croatia my Sevilla“He said in the club’s official media.
Rakitic was asked about the penalty that he missed at the last moment in Pamplona: “It hurt me above all for the team, because we deserved to win and we did a lot of things to win,” confesses the Croatian. But against Dinamo he took a penalty again and scored. “I had no doubts about taking the ball. Pablo (Sanz, Sevilla’s second coach) told me before the game: ‘Ivan, if there’s a penalty, you take it’, and I answered yes”.
The captain from Nervion told anecdotes about his ‘sevillanía’ and his sevillismo in Barcelona: “I went to Barcelona being me, I was not born a Sevillian or a Sevillista but I will die being one. What Sevilla has given me I will never be able to return. I told Piqué once ‘pass it to me, ‘miarma’ and he stopped the ball and replied: ‘what I needed was for a Croatian to ask me for the ball like that’. Or Messi, who also sang the anthem of the Centenary of Seville”.
“It’s an honor to play so many games and be able to match Juan Martagón or Dani Alves. But the main thing is to be able to continue enjoying the game with the one who has played the most games, Jesús Navas, and continue to climb in that classification”, the Croatian concluded.