Ivan Rakitic explains reason Barcelona lost to Roma in 2018: “We got bored.”
Former Barcelona player Ivan Rakitic went over the historic defeat to Roma in the Champions League quarterfinals in 2018.
Rakitic, now 36 years old and returning to Hajduk Split to finish his career, looked back on his glorious years with Barcelona, but also on his most burning disappointments.
Among his bitterest memories, the sensational comeback suffered against Roma in 2018, in the quarter-finals, resurfaces.
After the 4-1 result in the first leg at the Camp Nou, Barcelona were overwhelmed 3-0 at the Olimpico, with the Giallorossi who, thanks to goals from Dzeko, De Rossi and Manolas, reached a historic semi-final.
Rakitic explained that defeat as a lesson in humility: “In my opinion, and I say this with respect for our opponents, it was all due to boredom… everyone praised us, saying how we were the best team in the world and we went onto the pitch thinking about everything except football.”
“We were wrong, if If we had still been hungry from the beginning, we would have won two or three more Champions League titles. And instead we felt much superior to the others and football punished us for it.”