18 Quotes by Ivan Rakitic

A part of me feels very Swiss: I follow Swiss sports - curling, for example - and I support Swiss teams. I love Roger Federer.

Changing from Sevilla to Barca is huge in every sense, and it's not easy, but having a private life so full of love helps. I get strength from my two girls. And my philosophy is enjoy it.

I can talk 10 hours about football. From the moment I leave home, I talk about football.

In England, everyone is really physically strong. They can play three games, and then they are ready to play the fourth. If you are a Spanish team, and you give away a corner against an English team, then you have to be ready.

Friends ask me to pick the best 11 players, but sometimes the best 11 players are not the best team. So it's something that you have to work together.

The hunger doesn't diminish when you win something. If you have the chance to win the European and Spanish Super Cups and the Club World Cup, that makes you want to win even more.

I forced myself to watch Spanish TV and listen to Spanish radio all the time. I think I'm lucky because, for whatever reason, people from the Balkans seem to have a talent for learning languages.

I think people don't really understand how much footballers are affected by the people in their lives. When we're interviewed, people always ask about managers and tactics and training, but they almost never ask about what's going on off the pitch, and to me, that's just as important to your career.

When I met my wife, I felt as though I really had something to play for, and my career went to another level after that.