Ivan Rakitic is a famous and titled footballer. At the moment, for 4 years now he has been defending the colors of the Catalan Barcelona, one of the most prestigious European clubs. Where did his career begin? How did he come to success? This will be discussed now.
Childhood
It should be noted that the currently known footballer Rakitic may not have been entrenched in his national team. After all, his parents moved from Croatia because of the war before his birth. Therefore, a young man was born in Switzerland. It happened on March 10, 1988.
Interestingly, the young man’s father, Luka Rakitic, played for the Bosnian FC Celik Zenica in his youth. But in Yugoslavia at that time there was a very difficult economic situation. Luke dreamed of moving abroad. And his older brother lived in Switzerland.
Once, visiting his brother, Luke received an offer to play for a team from a small town called Melin. Yes, the club played in the 4th division, but the man agreed. In return, he was promised to find work and help with paperwork.
Soon after the birth of Ivan in the family, difficult times came. My father went to work on a construction site, ceasing to play football, and my mother went to the factory. The boy had only one set of sportswear. To get Ivan's boots, the family saved on food.
Carier start
Ivan Rakitic became a football player at the age of 4 years. He studied the basics of sportsmanship at the Melin-Riburg Club. When he was 7 years old, he entered the children's school of FC Basel.
For 10 years he trained hard, played for the youth squad. And in 2005 he was declared to the main team. The debut match took place on August 29. It was a game against FC Shiroki Brijeg, it ended with the victory of Basel with a score of 1-0.
The following season, the young midfielder became a player of the basic structure. Promising footballer Rakitic played 33 matches and scored 11 goals. This made him the second scorer of the team (the first was Mladen Petrich), as well as the best young player in the Swiss championship.
Further years
Continuing to talk about the biography of Ivan Rakitich, it should be noted that eminent European clubs quickly became interested in him. In June 22, 2007, he signed a contract with Schalke 04. The German club bought it for 5,000,000 euros.
On August 10, his debut took place. Replacing, Rakitic scored a goal just 5 minutes later. The second goal in his career for Schalke he sent to the goal of Bayern. It was he who then helped his new club for the first time in history to get into ¼ of the Champions League final.
For Schalke, the footballer Rakitic played until 2011. He spent 97 matches, scored 12 goals. And then Sevilla bought it for 2.5 million. The player’s price has dropped, possibly due to an ankle injury in his first season, which caused him to miss 7 matches.
In Seville, the career was developing controversially. Only in his second match did he score an own goal. Then he received a fracture of the foot, recovering for 4 months. But in the 2013/14 season, he managed to prove himself, scoring 2 goals for Real Madrid. He even became the owner of the captain's armband and led the team to victory in the Spanish Cup.
And again, famous clubs became interested in Ivan. From 2011 to 2014, he played 117 matches for Sevilla and scored 25 goals. And then for 18 (!) Million euros, it was bought by Barcelona.
Careers in Catalonia
“Barcelona” is where Ivan Rakitić has been playing for the last 4 years. His contract is designed for 5 years. Arriving at the team, the young man took number 4, which previously belonged to the famous Cesc Fabregas. The first match was held after 1.5 months, and scored a goal on September 21 against the Levant.
Together with this team, he became the champion of Spain three times, won four Cups and two Super Bowls of the country, won the Champions League, as well as the Club World Cup 2015.
Personal life
Finally, a few words about this. The personal life of Ivan Rakitich is interesting to many. He has a wife - Raquel Mauri. He met her in the first days of his stay in Spain. Then Ivan went with his brother to the hotel bar.
It was there that Raquel worked - a simple waitress from a poor family. Seeing her, Ivan fell head over heels and told his brother: "She will be my wife." Only of all the Spanish words he knew only Hola, and she did not speak any of the six languages that Rakitic owned.
For 7 months, Ivan intensively studied the language and tried to get the girl's favor. She rejected his offers of a meeting dozens of times, but did not directly say no. As a result, she let slip that she did not want to enter into a relationship, since he was a football player and could leave for another country at any time.
Once Ivan received an SMS: “Go to the bar. Raquel doesn't work, she and her sister are there. ” And he fell there. Having sat down to the girls, he announced that he knew about Raquel's day off, and therefore he would not leave her until she had dinner with him. Ivan invited his sister. As a result, Raquel agreed.
Since then, the couple has not parted. In 2013, they had a daughter, and in 2015 they got married. Then another girl was born. Such a difficult love story ended happily, and you can even make a film based on it.