Rakitic: Messi will never know how much it meant to me to play with him

“Messi is 100 per cent football. It doesn’t matter who you are, you just have to watch and enjoy this guy. He’s on another level. With all respect to the other greats, there’s only one number one – it’s Leo,” Ivan Rakitic has told FIFA’s official website.

“To play 311 games next to him, it was a dream. I enjoyed it so, so much. I just want to say this: ‘Thank you for everything, Leo, because you’ll never know how much it meant to me to play next to you’,” the Croatian added.

In September, Rakitic revealed that he had never been close friends with Leo Messi. However, their chemistry on the pitch was always special: the two participated in 27 goals together, 5 of them coming in the 2019/20 season.