Ivan Rakitić, Barcelona Midfielder

Planet Fútbol with Grant Wahl

Sports Illustrated

Sports, Sports News, News, Soccer

4.6 • 859 Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2017

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitić joins Grant in Spain for a wide-ranging conversation about scoring in the 2015 Champions League final; what it’s like playing with Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar; his more defensive role for Barça this season; how he met his future wife on his first day in Spain; thoughts on extending his Barça contract soon; and the challenge of coming back from a 4-0 Champions League deficit to PSG and catching up to Real Madrid in La Liga. “We have three months for this season,” Rakitić says, “and we have to do the best three months in the history of the club.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Grant Wall, and welcome to the Planet Football Podcast, where I go in-depth with the most intriguing people in the world of soccer.
0:09.0	On today's show, Barcelona midfielder Yvonne Rakatich talks about scoring in a
0:14.1	Champions League final, meeting his future wife on his first day in Spain and why he thinks Barcelona can turn around its 4-0 Champions League deficit against PSG.
0:25.2	Nothing is impossible. So if we can score an early goal and to take more confidence
0:32.1	I don't know, why not?
0:34.0	All that and my thoughts on soccer coming up.
0:37.0	Take one.
0:40.0	Here we go with my three thoughts on soccer. First up the 2017
0:45.4	MLS season starts this week. There's a lot to be excited about and the National
0:50.6	TV double-headed on Sunday is a beauty.
0:53.4	Orlando opens its new stadium against NYCFC at 5 PM Eastern on E-SPN,
0:59.3	followed by first-year Atlanta hosting the New York Red Bulls on FS1 at 730.
1:05.6	Look for plenty of MLS coverage including my annual ambition rankings and our season
1:10.5	predictions this week on SI.com. With 22 teams, MLS now has more teams than most
1:17.5	top flights in the world, so there are a ton of story lines. But the one that will transcend the rest at the start of the schedule is
1:26.0	Atlanta, which announced that it has more than 30,000 season ticket holders.
1:31.4	There are only two teams in
1:32.6	MLS last season, Seattle and Orlando, that average more than 30,000
1:37.5	fans a game. If Tata Martino's team can back it up on the field and
1:41.8	they're plenty good enough to make the playoffs,
1:44.4	Atlanta will be something historic in year one.
1:48.0	The challenge for MLS with those 22 teams is making sure that talent hasn't been diluted too much. We'll be
	...

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