Rakitic, the king of Pino Montano, says goodbye

“Blonde, gypsy and from Pino Montano.”

This is how those around him defined Ivan Rakitic (Rheinfelden, Switzerland; 35 years old), emblem of Sevilla and the Spanish League that is heading to Saudi Arabia while his team is experiencing a rampant sporting crisis, one point away from relegation.

Beyond a farewell to which only two teammates from the first team attended, Dmitrovic and Jesús Navas, the foreigner with the most games played in the history of Sevilla (323 and 51 goals) and the only foreign captain of the entity after of Maradona.

He won two Europa League tournaments with the Andalusian club (2014 and 2023).

A footballer who was an important part of one of Barcelona's best teams is also leaving for Al Shabab.

The one who achieved the treble in 2015 with Luis Enrique on the bench (Champions, League and Cup).

In total, he has played 14 seasons in the League.

In addition to being an exceptional player, Rakitic was a clear example of immersion in Seville, a city to which he fully adapted since his arrival at the club in January 2011, from Schalke 04. “I didn't hesitate to put him in because of his quality and because "He is a great person," remembers Gregorio Manzano, his first coach at Sevilla.

Rakitic was so special that he fell in love with his wife, Raquel, the same day he arrived when she was working as a waitress in the hotel where he spent his first night in Seville.

Raquel, a Sevillista, lived in Pino Montano, a working-class neighborhood in the north of Seville that expanded in the years of developmentalism of the last century in the capital of Andalusia.

In Pino Montano she was immersed in Sevillismo because of her in-laws and also began to enjoy the traditions of Seville.

Starting with the salmorejo that her mother-in-law made for her and, of course, Holy Week and the Fair.

“You are just another Sevillian and you have raised a family of Sevillians with your wife and your two daughters (Adara and Althea).

Your accent says it all,” clarified José María del Nido Carrasco, president of Sevilla.

Because Rakitic doesn't speak Spanish.

He is not even Andalusian in the Sevillian way of him.

He speaks Sevillian with a Pino Montano accent.

And he works as a bearer in the neighborhood brotherhood, like his father-in-law's.

Long gone are the days where he got lost in the center of the city with the passing of so many brotherhoods.

He went from bewilderment to putting himself under a step.

And he walks through the April Fair with his girls dressed as gypsies, as they say in Seville.

And he is, in short, “uno di noi”.

One of us, one of those who live Sevillismo in the Gol Norte of Sánchez Pizjuán.

“Who was going to tell me in 2011 that my life was going to change so much,” Rakitic said through tears in his farewell.

Only from that prodigious process of assimilation can we understand how he grew at Sevilla until reaching his breakthrough in his first stage in 2014 when he was the captain of the team that won the Europa League in Turin on penalties against Benfica.

Next to him, Reyes, another Sevilla legend with whom he also forged a very strong friendship.

His families became close.

Buddies on vacation and padel when he was at Barcelona, ​​Reyes' death in 2019 shook him forcefully.

“I thank you as a Sevilla fan for everything you have done for this club.

I hope life continues to give you what you deserve, which is a lot and good,” said Monchi, the sports director who hired him.

Rakitic's life took a turn because he had agreed to transfer him to another club and Monchi convinced him.

Also Víctor Orta, the current sports director of Sevilla, who lived with him in Germany for a month in 2010 to convince him to come to the League.

“I miss you a lot and I wish you the best for you and your family,” said Andrés Iniesta in a video at his farewell.

Andrés was his friend in Barcelona, ​​where he also left a deep mark and where he consumed the salmorejo that his mother-in-law brought him.

310 games and 13 titles with the Catalans were his legacy.

“You are a legend,” Jesús Navas told him.

“Now it's your turn, Jesus, to lead the locker room,” Rakitic responded, leaving with his Sevilla team on the brink of the abyss.

The reason is obvious.

It's not just Saudi money.

Quique Sánchez Flores told him that he was going to stop playing.

The disagreement was clear.

“I feel like I help more by stepping aside,” the Croatian clarified.

Runner-up in the world with Croatia in 2018, this Swiss with a Croatian heart, king of Pino Montano, has signed a contract in Saudi Arabia until 2025. “I will return,” he stated.

And so, Sevilla and its neighborhood are waiting for him.

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