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Ivan Rakitić Says Barcelona Players Celebrate Before Messi Even Takes A Free-Kick

Ivan Rakitić Says Barcelona Players Celebrate Before Messi Even Takes A Free-Kick

Ivan Rakitić has revealed how his Barcelona teammates feel when they see Lionel Messi getting ready to take a free-kick.

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz

Lionel Messi once again silenced his biggest critics with a fantastic hat-trick against PSV Eindhoven in Barcelona's opening match of their Champions League campaign.

It all started with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner scoring an absolute peach of a free-kick from outside of the box -- it was out of this world -- but the Argentine seems to have his Barcelona teammates preparing their celebrations before he's even hit the back of the net.

Press Association

According to the Daily Mail, Ivan Rakitić said he doesn't feel the need to watch Messi take a free-kick because he knows what the final outcome is going to be.

"A lot of the time when we get a free-kick, we are already thinking about the celebration," Rakitić said.

"They [PSV] were motivated with it being the first game. It's not easy because this is the Champions League."

Press Association

"We can still get better. This has only just started. We are still not at 100 per cent."

Brilliant response from the Croatian midfielder.

Barcelona are top of Group B after sweeping PSV to the side in a 4-0 thrashing, with Inter Milan on the same number of points after they made a fantastic comeback against Tottenham Hotspur.

The La Liga side will take on the Premier League club in their next Champions League clash, so there's plenty of times for Spurs to have a strategy to stop Messi from scoring (best of luck on that one, Mauricio Pochettino).






What did you make of Messi's free-kick?

Let us know in the comments.

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Topics: Football News, Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Ivan Rakitic