Ivan Rakitic on Barcelona's Desire: 'I Will Eat the Entire Pitch If I Have To'

Ivan Rakitic has opened up about the commitment that has helped Barcelona become the dominant force in world football over the past few years.

The Croatian midfielder joined from Sevilla in 2014 and spoke about the club's hunger for success in an interview with Sport:

"

I’ve been here one and a half years in a dressing room with guys who have won it all. I arrived after a difficult year but we won it all.

You arrive and you see this desire and you say "I have won a Europa League with Sevilla", which is good, and a cup in Switzerland. And you say "Now I’m going to fight 10 times harder, if I can." I will eat the entire pitch if I have to.

I don’t want it more than Andres or Leo, for sure, but I will do all I can to be there with them.

"

Rakitic scored in the 2015 UEFA Champions League final in Berlin, and his team are hoping to record historic back-to-back continental crowns.

LLUIS GENE/Getty Images

Barcelona are also front-runners in La Liga and have qualified for May's Copa del Rey final against Sevilla.

The 27-year-old said that life at last season's treble winners isn't like at any other club.

"Football is not just football [at Barcelona]," he said. "You don’t just finish training and nothing else. Football is much more. It’s not like an eight hour job, football is 24 hours."

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Rakitic said that Barcelona's legendary front three of Leo Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez had earned the right to be the focal point but still had to operate within a team environment.

"Each person has to know their role in the team," he said. "I can’t dribble like Ney, shoot like Leo and I don’t have the strength of Luis, but I have other things that maybe they don’t have."

Luis Enrique's side will take on Rayo Vallecano on Thursday night.

[Sport]