While
Fiorentino Perez is known for attracting World Cup super-stars to Real Madrid
since the day he presided the Real Madrid board for the first time, it seems
that the low key signing of Ivan Rakitic from Sevilla is also bearing fruits
for the Catalan Giants. While this Barcelona side is nowhere near to the
Greatest Barcelona sides ever, still a clean-sheet laden start of the season
with plenty of goals has given the Barcelona board a much needed breathing
space after last year’s horrific Neymar scandal and poor showings in LA LIGA as
well as in the Champions League.
Both
Kroos and Rakitic had to fill in the boots of Legends at their respective new
clubs. While Kroos had to face the task of man whom he was directly swapping
his shirt with – Alonso- Rakitic had to replace Xavi Hernandez which has become
a household name in Spain, so let us see how both of them have done their
respective jobs
Welcome Notes:
Talking
about the day when Real signed Kroos and Barcelona gone with Rakitic, the
10 times Champions League winner introduced the World Cup winner in grand
fashion in-front of the media and received much of the money back they paid for
Kroos through shirt sales. Barcelona on the other hand gone with mutiny as a
rather cold welcome was given to a man whom they claimed as the immediate
replacement of Xavi. So as far as the Welcome is concerned, Real Madrid took
the glamour world with storm however Barcelona keep their foot on ground.
Passing maestros:
Talking
about passing and taking in heed the Barcelona style of play, Ivan Rakitic lags
behind in successful passing percentage in comparison with his counter-part at
Real Madrid however, with a very small margin. While Rakitic has a passing
accuracy of 90% with 57% of those being in the forward direction, Kroos has an
astonishingly higher passing percentage as 92% of his passes are met by his
team mates with more than 75% of them being in the forward direction. But if
you keep in mind style of Real Madrid and compare it with that of Barcelona
there should be nothing to hold Real Madrid players from passing more
aggressively.
Chance creation and goals:
While
the Croatian was in the form of his life against Granada with a goal to his
name, he had already scored 2 goals and considering the position he plays in a
hole behind Iniesta, this has been a remarkable start for the former Sevilla
man whose role is to pass and anchor the play more.
In
comparison to the above and as Real Madrid have already scored 25 times this
season, only 3 of them had a direct involvement of the World Cup winner. But
like Rakitic he has Modric at his front so 3 assists from that deep lying role
have to be applauded.
In
terms of chance creation, only Lionel Messi has created more than the Croatian
Rakitic who has created 6 chances in as many games for Barcelona. Toni Kroos on
the other hand seems to be benefitting fully from the type of form Ronaldo is
in as the German has created double, 12 chances for Real Madrid so far in the
first 6 games of the season.
So
even though it’s the start of the season with all left to play, both of the
midfield maestros have performed really well so far.
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