The Croatian midfielder hailed his Barca team-mate ahead of the World Cup
Ivan Rakitic spoke about his Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi and claimed that the Argentine would have won 50 grand slams if he played tennis.
"Messi is such a domimant sportsman that he would have won 50 grand slams if he was a tennis player," said Rakitic to Croatian newspaper Vecernji.
Rakitic will face off against Messi in the World Cup group stage as Croatia and Argentina are in the same group, with Iceland and Nigeria.
"When you have the best player in the world you are the favourite, even though he says that's not true," said Rakitic.
