Ivan Rakitic Deserves Run of Games to Prove He Can Replace Barcelona Legend Xavi

Ivan Rakitic will look back on his performance against Atletico Madrid last weekend and consider it a job well done. He'll also be wondering why he doesn't get the chance to do it more often. 

The Croatian has started six games in the last 10, which has not allowed him to settle down in a side which is always changing.

His display at the Camp Nou on Sunday night during Barcelona's 3-1 win over last season's champions showed that he has the capability to do an excellent job for Luis Enrique's side.

At 26 years old, he is more than capable of doing the running needed to support the exuberant trident ahead of him, has a ferocious shot and a silky touch, too, when required.

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He played in a slightly more attacking role than he has been allowed to so far this season against Atletico and it worked well, as he put in his best showing of the season so far.

Barcelona have won and scored five goals exactly five times this season, and Rakitic has been playing on each of these occasions.

He also started in the 6-0 win over Granada. In fact, the only extreme high-scoring game he has missed was Barcelona's 8-1 home triumph over minnows Huesca in the Copa del Rey.

To tell the other side of the story, he put in a notably poor performance in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain in Paris, Barcelona's first defeat of the season.

After that, he sat out three of the next four games, with Xavi taking over from him. Funny, really, because Rakitic had been brought in to phase out the Barcelona legend.

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Barcelona owe it to both Rakitic and themselves to give him a fair shot at proving he can take the Spaniard's place and make it his own.

Nobody expects him to pull the same strings Xavi did, but perhaps he can knock down a few walls instead.

Iniesta may find himself a new home in a deeper position, because he is the closest Barcelona have to replicating the brain of Xavi.

It's not to say that Xavi has nothing to offer Barcelona this season, he will be needed at various points and is still an excellent player.

But if Barcelona don't find out exactly how good Rakitic is in this calendar year, when given a run of games, then they won't know if they need to buy a new midfielder when the January 2016 transfer window swings open and their ban is lifted.

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For his part, Rakitic needs to build on the showing against Atletico. Last time he was given a reprieve by Enrique, after the PSG clash, he came on as a substitute against Real Madrid.

Almost immediately he gave the ball away in terrible fashion and Los Blancos fired another one past Claudio Bravo and sunk Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Rakitic will do well to learn from Xavi and has said so himself, per an exclusive interview with UEFA. He explained:

"

Aside from the fact that [Xavi] has won everything, it's his style of play, the way he conducts himself and how he leads us. Now I get the chance to share the dressing room with such important people who, despite having already won it all, are still hungry and want more. It's a privilege to play alongside such influential footballers.

"

But as well as just adoring Xavi, it is Rakitic's time to show he can emulate him.