I apologize for leaving Rakitic.net without any updates for a few months. Life has been hectic.

Getting back into everything again, so updates will be coming your way.

As always, questions/suggestions/anything at all (except fanmail for Ivan as he won’t get it) is welcomed at ellie@rakitic.net.

If you didn’t already know, Ivan now has his own official website! Created by Spherix.ch it is located over at ivanrakitic.com. Great news!

It’s time for another UEFA Cup match for Schalke in group A against Real Racing Club. If you’re able to watch, don’t miss it!

Below is the match preview from Schalke04.de and you can read even more about the match on UEFA.com

Rutten calls for total concentration against Racing

Schalke made an ideal start to the UEFA Cup group stage with a 3-1 defeat of Paris Saint-Germain. And a win at Racing Santander on Thursday would see the Royal Blues take a giant stride towards the Round of 32. “We’ll have to work hard for it, though”, said Fred Rutten at today’s press conference.

( Read more… )

The match is on tonight, Thursday, at 20:45 CET.

( Source )

Ivan celebrates after scoring against Andorra on October 15, 2008. AFP PHOTO / Stringer

Ivan has played two matches in his #7 jersey this week. On Saturday the 11th Croatia played against Ukraine which ended in a draw, 0-0.

Yesterday on the 15th Croatia defeated Andorra and won the match with 4-0. In the match, our own Ivan scored twice! Fifa.com describes the goals as “two dead-ball strikes, the first a superb free-kick; the second a penalty.”

Great work done by Ivan, and the rest of the team!

Fifa.com has this to say about match:

“Rakitic brace helps Croatia cruise”
Two goals in each half earned Croatia a 4-0 victory over Andorra in their European Zone, Group 6 qualifier for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ in Zagreb.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic fielded an attacking formation with three forwards, but the scoring was opened by midfielder Ivan Rakitic’s superb free-kick in the 16th minute.

Luka Modric had a 32nd-minute penalty saved by Jesus Alvarez after Victor Rodriguez’s foul, but Ivica Olic slotted home the rebound to make it 2-0 at the break.

Modric poached a deflected cross from just inside the box to score the third on 75 minutes, before Rakitic added his second from the penalty spot three minutes from time.

Photos from the matches against Ukraine and Andorra have been added to the gallery.

Since last, Schalke has managed two wins. The first came in the Bundesliga against Frankfurt when they won 1-0, bringing Schalke yet again back to the top of the table.

On Wednesday Schalke took another win in the second round of the DFB-Pokal/German Cup against Hannover 96 with 2-0. Ivan didn’t play for most of the match, only coming in for Jefferson Farfan in the 79th minute. With this winning Schalke is now one of 16 teams left in the Cup.

“We did our job very well and achieved what we set out to do: go through to the next round”, said Fred Rutten after the 2-0 home win over Hannover 96 in the second round of the DFB Cup.

( Click here to read the match report )

Statistics:
Schalke: Fährmann - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Pander - Jones (Engelaar 57′) - Westermann (Altintop 82′), Ernst - Farfan (Rakitic 79′), Kuranyi, Sanchez
Hannover: Enke - Herrmann, Eggimann, Vinicius, Rausch - Balitsch, Fahrenhorst - Stajner, Pinto (Yankov 83′), Krebs (Yigitusagi 79′) - Hanke (Zizzo 72′)
Goals: 1-0 Westermann (56′), 2-0 Westermann (78′)
Referee: Drees (Mainz)
Attendance: 50,378
Yellow cards: Rafinha, Jones - Krebs, Fahrenhorst

( Source )