RAKITIC: 'WE WILL HAVE TO BE AT OUR VERY BEST TO BEAT KRASNODAR'

03/11/2020

The Croatian midfielder accepted criticisms about his form and spoke of the team's desire to play well on Wednesday

Sevilla FC midfielder Ivan Rakitić appeared before the media this afternoon ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match against Krasnodar. The Croatian accompanied Julen Lopetegui in the press conference, and began by speaking about the team's intentions ahead of another European match: 'Our intention is to win. We are excited to be able to play every three or four days, especially when it's a Champions League match. We can leave La Liga to the side and focus on a match against a tough opponent, we have to be at our best.' The midfielder admitted there was work to be done: 'We are confident, we have prepared well fo rah match and we are excited. We know we have points to improve on, we must have a strong attitude for this match. We have to enjoy it and play well.'

He referred to the team's confidence when asked about the latest defeats in La Liga: 'Our belief has remained the same. We did some things well in those games, we have to improve and learn from it, but we could have won and we're calm. But we know we must improve. The team is the same as it was a few weeks ago, maybe even better as we've created many chances in those games. We will make sure it doesn't happen again, working on a match-to-match basis.' He accepted criticism, ruling out tiredness as an excuse for the defeats: 'We have no room in our minds for tiredness. We want to play every three or four days, preparing for every match as we do. I have to be critical with myself, I think that I can play a lot better. After many years at Barcelona I need to learn my role here and what I can offer the team. I'm confident that everything will fall into place and I'll be able to help my teammates.'

'We have no room in our minds for tiredness'

Rakitić also underlined how the team has been competing lately: 'I think the team was in all of the matches we ended up losing. We competed well against Granada and Eibar, and we were controlling the match in Bilbao before they turned it around... we have to learn from all this. Things go quickly in football and the group is full of desire to work hard, that's why I'm not worried and I'm convinced everything happens for a reason and this will only unite us even more. We played good football but we need to play even better.' The midfielder also spoke about his personal situation: 'What's most important is that the team wins. Even if I'm not feeling good, I'm happy if the team wins. Every game I'm feeling better, Bilbao was an important step and I'm sure I will keep improving because my goal is to give everything for Sevilla FC.'

'Results will come with hard work'

Speaking about tomorrow's opponent, our number 10 said they are a strong team who have also been unlucky: 'Krasnodar are a hard-working team, they've had bad luck in the Champions League and the Russian league. They play football well and they know their tactics, they had chances against Chelsea and the result was unfair for them. To beat them we'll have to be at our best.'

To finish, Rakitić defended the team's work: 'When you win everything's fine and when you lose you need answers. What's important is that we trust in our work and the manager and coaching staff know they have our full support. The results will come with hard work. We are capable of creating many chances, we're confident of that. We have to attack and defend as a team... with attitude and hard work it'll all fall into place.'