In the long shadow of his Barcelona years, Ivan Rakitic has offered a measured view on a closely contested football selection, arguing that the race lacks one player who stands unmistakably above the rest.
A race without a clear favourite
The Croatian midfielder described the decision as exceptionally tight and said he could not identify an undisputed candidate. In his view, the leading contenders are close enough that no single name has earned automatic status as the obvious choice.
Rakitic knows the weight of individual recognition from his time alongside Lionel Messi at Barcelona, where the pair were teammates in 2020. His assessment, however, was not centred on one player, but on the unusually even nature of the current debate.
