FourFourTwo have been in Seville for mere minutes when Ivan Rakitic looms large, holding the Europa League trophy. ‘CAMP7ONES,’ boasts the giant display on the doors of the airport’s arrivals hall, referencing Sevilla’s record seventh triumph in the competition at the end of last season.
It’s a scorching 41 degrees when we land and we’re soon heading 50 miles south to the plush Montecastillo golf resort – next to the Jerez motor racing circuit – where we witness Rakitic preparing for the new campaign with his team-mates, including Erik Lamela, Gonzalo Montiel, Papu Gomez and goalkeeper Bono. Training begins at 9.30am to avoid the worst of the heat, but the work is still pretty demanding. “It is hard – it’s difficult to understand why we move only 40 minutes out of Seville; it could be easier to at least go outside Andalusia!” Rakitic jokes when he greets FFT, the session over.
The 35-year-old was born and raised in the cooler climes of Switzerland, but went on to earn 106 caps for Croatia and appear in a World Cup final before his international retirement in 2020.
Throw in his two Europa Leagues with Sevilla, nine years apart, as well as a Champions League triumph and four Liga titles with Barcelona, and it’s been a decent career. Now, he’s here to answer your questions about it all…
What was your upbringing in Switzerland like?
Joe Palmer, Norwich
My parents had to leave Yugoslavia because of the situation there, before the war. My father played for an important team, Celik Zenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but like many families he had to get out of a hard situation – he had to take care of his family. The opportunity came for him to move to Switzerland and he worked in construction, to do whatever he could to make money for his family.
My parents went to Switzerland in 1985 and I was born there in 1988. Growing up there was easy because people in Switzerland were very kind. I enjoyed it a lot, so a big part of me is Swiss. I’m very proud of where I began my career, and I played for the Swiss national team in the junior age groups for four and a half years before I changed to Croatia. I’m living the dream that my father wanted to reach as a footballer. He was the person who pushed me; he was behind me all the time and many of the things I’ve done in my career have been for him. I am really thankful for what he did for me.
How close were you to joining Chelsea as a teenager?
Emilia Richards, Kew
Very close. I was about 15 or 16 when I started to play for Switzerland in the junior age groups. We had really good games, then there wasand there was this possibility to go there. People from Chelsea came to Switzerland, we spoke to them, and they put a proposal to my club, Basel, but we decided really quickly to stay in Switzerland and I think it was the right decision. It wasn’t to say no to Chelsea; it was just to stay at home and finish school in the right way, as there was still time for my football career after that. I was lucky that the people at Basel believed in me and gave me an opportunity very early – then everything went very fast for me.
