Rakitic reveals that he left Sevilla because of… former Benfica coach
Croatian midfielder and former captain of the Spanish team explained that Quique Flores did not want him in the squad, despite having only arrived at the club a few days ago
After six years at Barcelona , Rakitic decided to return to Sevilla , in the summer of 2020, for whom he had already played between 2011 and 2014, and stayed there for another three and a half years. However, the Croatian left the club in January 2024 and revealed, in an interview with Marca , that it was all because of the arrival of a former Benfica coach , Quique Flores.
The Spaniard arrived in December 2023 and ended up leaving at the end of that season, but the experienced midfielder quickly realized that he did not identify with the coach, who demanded his departure from the club: “No, it wasn’t my idea, but sometimes it’s necessary understand the moment. I didn’t have a relationship with the coach and it wasn’t about whether I would play or not. Simply, what I saw as white he saw as black and vice versa. I was at home, in the most beautiful place in the world, but you have to establish priorities and, for me, those will always be Sevilla . There is no one who can fight the shield. I can’t ask a president to go against a coach. I had to step away and that’s great.”
The 36-year-old athlete wanted to end his career with the La Liga team , but that was not possible: “That was my idea. I told the president that he could count on me for as many years as necessary: 1, 2 or 5. I wanted to play for Sevilla , but sometimes things like this happen. We went from the lowest to the highest with Mendilibar [winning the Europa League ] and it was a shame not to have been able to maintain that over time, but the important thing is Sevilla, not Ivan Rakitic .”
Therefore, the player went to Saudi Arabia , where he stayed for six months, before returning to his country, and was trained by a Portuguese, Vítor Pereira, now at Wolverhampton : «We went to Saudi with the idea of looking for something new , different, and suddenly the opportunity arose to come to Croatia for the first time in my career. I discussed the matter with my wife and we thought it was now or never. We wanted to get to know Croatia from the inside and I was looking forward to playing for Hajduk , especially because my best friend is from Split and he always told me… ‘Please, one day, if you have the chance, you have to come’. I remember when I called him to tell him there was an option and he started crying. The truth is, until I wasn’t inside, I hadn’t realized the greatness of Hajduk. We got it 100% right. Not only with the team, but also with the city.”
On Croatian soil, Rakitic is being trained by Gattuso, a personality completely opposite to Quique Flores, and has a clear objective for the end of his career: “The coach is fantastic. I have rarely had such a strong connection with a coach. He knows that we both came here to win, but above all, to help the team grow, the city… I have teammates who are 19-20 years younger than me. I could be their father. Gattuso is the most important person on the team and we all follow him, I enjoy every training session like a child. No matter how much or less I won, I want to continue to add and instill the winning gene in the club. It’s not possible that Hajduk hasn’t been champion for so many years, we have to change history.”
