Rakitic talks about El Clasico: Even all the players want to watch it. If you lose this game, it will be useless to go 5-0.

Before the national derby, ESPN released an interview with Rakitic.

When your friends back home ask you, "What's El Clasico like?" What do you tell them?

Rakitic: It’s incredible because there’s so much buzz around this game, and for me to be a part of this great game, it’s great in itself because everyone, we’re all looking forward to this game. Now when I'm not on the court, I get to enjoy the game from another angle, from another "park." Everything that's going on around it is amazing and even now, in 2025, the feeling is stronger than maybe a few years ago and I think that's what everyone wants to know, what it's like, how you prepare, what you're doing, how you feel, what it feels like to score a goal. These are wonderful moments and I think it’s something to cherish for a lifetime.

Have you ever asked this question yourself? When you come to Barcelona, ​​do you ask anyone at the club? What did they say to you? Did they explain to you less about the game itself and more about the meaning of the game?

Rakitic: Of course, I think I am also lucky. In my time, there were some guys on the team who had played more than 20 national derbies. Yeah, when you listen to them, they might say, "Yeah, that's it, we go out there, we play, and then we go home, you know?" Haha. But really to understand, you have to be there, you have to get on the plane from Barcelona to Madrid, and when you actually get here, when you can really feel the fans and this healthy pressure, this wonderful pressure... No, I think only then can you really understand that there is something crazy going on here.

Is El Clasico an international game in which the club's jersey is worn? Is it what these two clubs represent that makes them so different?

Rakitic: I think there are many, many problems. Where is the best league? Is it La Liga? Is it the Premier League? Or Bundesliga? But El Clasico is different. It's no longer about La Liga or the Premier League or those big games, you know. This is "that game". This is "that game" and this is the best part of it. So I think all the teams in the Premier League, they want to say, please don't schedule my games at the same time because I want to stay at home and enjoy El Clasico. And that's what makes it so different.

This is probably an obvious question because if I remember correctly you've scored the winning goal twice in El Clasico. What was the best moment in El Clasico for you?

Rakitic: This is a difficult question, because there have been many, many wonderful moments for me, but maybe it was the 1-0 at the Bernabeu, when I was lucky enough to score the winning goal. I think it was even a nice goal, past Courtois, and I ran behind me (celebrating). That was a special, important moment for me, especially that one.

What's the worst?

Rakitic: All moments when losing to Real Madrid are bad, very bad. I think because for me, it's not just an ordinary game, not just three points, you know that game means a lot of things behind it, you know, so you can win a lot, but when you lose this El Clasico, you know in all these days, even the next game, even if you can win 5-0 and do everything perfect, you know the first question will still be: "But you lost El Clasico."

Why are you not afraid of the Bernabeu? Most teams would be scared to go to the Bernabeu, but that's a Barcelona team that played their best football in a generation at the Bernabeu.

Rakitic: I think sometimes it's about understanding, understanding the style of what your team has to do. I think that's why in those years when we were playing for Barcelona it was not easy for Real Madrid to play against us at home because of the pressure from their own fans, they had to, or they had to fight a little bit harder, they had to try and give more and then for us, with Messi, Neymar and Luis (Suarez) in that area, we had more space, which you know, sometimes is maybe not bad for us. You know, maybe even when Barcelona plays, they can wait a little longer, um, to hit our counterattack, which would be better for them. And for our game at the Bernabeu, you can't say easy, but, but it was slightly easier for us because we had more space.

You mentioned Messi, Neymar, and Luis as the front three. Have you ever calculated how many kilometers you had to run to try to get these three people to do what they were supposed to do?

Rakitic: It's a pleasure, but it does involve a little more running than I expected when I signed for Barcelona, ​​but you have to do it. And not just that, I want to have what I think are the best full-backs on the line behind us, who are also kind of like wingers, you know, we still have to protect them, but I think the best part about us is the pressing, when we lose the ball in the last 25-30 meters of the other team, that's the best thing about this team, getting the ball back is trying to "kill" the opponent, and when they try to get the ball, we say: "Okay, we can create space and then you can get the ball." I think that's part of modern football, that pressing up front is very important. I think this is where our Barcelona team is really strong.