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Former Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic believes that La Blaugrana could've won more trophies during the late 2010s if it wasn't for distraction and boredom. Rakitic played for Barca between 2014 and 2020, scoring 35 goals and providing 42 assists in 310 appearances across all competitions.
Rakitic was integral to Barcelona's 2014-15 treble winning season, in which they won the UEFA Champions League, La Liga, and Copa del Rey. However, the Catalan giants could not consistently replicate that success in Europe.
In a recent appearance on the El Pelotazo podcast, Ivan Rakitic talked about why Barcelona did not win more trophies during his time at the club. He said (via Forbes):
"For me, with all the love and respect for the others teams, we didn't win more titles at Barcelona because of boredom and thinking about things other than football. I have heard many of your colleagues say that they have never seen anything like this."
Rakitic also reflected on a couple of memorable defeats that Barcelona suffered in the Champions League during his time at the club. In the quarterfinals of the 2017-18 CL campaign, Barca secured a 4-1 win against AS Roma in the first-leg at Camp Nou, but suffered a 3-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at the Stadio Olimpico. They were knocked out of the tournament because of the now-defunct away goals rule.
In the following season, La Blaugrana defeated Liverpool 3-0 at home in the first-leg of their semifinal, but suffered a 4-0 beating at Anfield in the second leg.
Rakitic said about these losses:
"We screwed up against Roma and Liverpool, but I'm convinced that we were affected by that boredom, of feeling too superior. If you don't give your best, you don't win. If we had kept our hunger, we would have won one or two more Champions Leagues."
Barca's last Champions League triumph came in the 2014-15 season, with Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez leading their attack. The Catalan giants have not fared well in the tournament in recent years.
La Blaugrana were eliminated from the Champions League quarterfinals once again last season after a 6-4 aggregate loss to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). They suffered an embarrassing 4-1 loss in the second leg at home.
When Ivan Rakitic revealed how he teased Lionel Messi at Barcelona about not winning one trophy
Ivan Rakitic once talked about how he teased Lionel Messi about winning a trophy he could never win during his time at Barcelona.
Speaking to La Liga TV in 2021, Rakitic said he teased Messi about never winning the UEFA Europa League. He said:
"I was speaking to Messi and I said: ‘you've won it all, you've scored all these goals, but I have won a trophy you’ll never have…you’ll never win the Europa League'."
Rakitic's statements were clearly made in jest, as Lionel Messi never played in the UEFA Europa League during his time in Europe for Barcelona or Paris Saint Germain. Meanwhile, Rakitic won the tournament two times in 2014 and 2023 with Sevilla.
However, after Messi's departure, Barca were relegated to the Europa League in two consecutive seasons, 2021-22 and 2022-23, after finishing third in the Champions League group stages.
