Schalke04.de has an interview up with Ivan, you can read a few translated bits of it below:

Rakitic: No time for second passion

Ivan Rakitic, currently you are and your team mates are in the most intensive training phase of the year. However, you radiate and seem full of beans. Deceptive?
I just feel very good. The training is currently very hard and intense, but it must be as well. Physically I am very well, so I can cope with the units with the highest speed and force. It’s a nice feeling when you know you can survive each exercise and every run. This knowledge gives me security in my head.

You only had tree and a half weeks vacation after extending your season due to the World Cup qualifications. Did you have your feet elevated during that time?
Not really. At first I was a few days with my family in Switzerland, then I spent a little time in Croatia by the sea. There, I’ve kept fit and prepared for the training.

What did you personal preparation look like?
I ran a lot of times and have often played tennis. That is my passion besides football.

Have you found a tennis court on Borkum, where you can pitch between the training sessions?
No, here I renounce my hobby (laughs). After two or three days of intensive training sessions, I would probably crash for eleven hours like John Isner. In the free hours during the day I lie down.

With Croatia you missed the World Cup in South Africa. What feeling is it now to see the tournament on TV?
I have so far only looked at German games. When I think of it, that we are not there with our strong team, it really hurts. I think that we had a good role to play. One sees actually, that with a good performance and a little luck can advance far in the tournament.

Your contract expires next summer. Do you already have plans for the time after July 2011?
Most of all I want to stay in Schalke. I have already told the coach that before my vacation. I like it very well in a club, we are a young and ambitious team and want to achieve together with the fans a long awaited goal. So why should I want to get away? But we are currently in preparation – and there are more important things than my contract.

Friday morning started with a gym and fitness program down at a nearby beach.

Schalke04.de has published a gallery with photos from the camp.

The agent of Schalke midfielder Ivan Rakitic has played down talk of a move to Palermo. The Croatia international is interesting Rosanero president Maurizio Zamparini.

Speaking to mediterraneonline.it, Michel Urscheler said: “Rakitic is a player who interests many clubs because he plays for the national team and he is young.

I have heard people speak about Palermo, but we have not had any contact with them. I don’t know if their squad is looking for a player with his characteristics. Rakitic has been linked with the Rosanero in the German Press. I believe that this is speculation at the moment and there has been a lot of it.

They spoke about Juventus before they signed Diego, and about Inter and Barcelona. There has been a lot of speculation but nothing concrete.

At the moment Rakitic is only concentrating on Schalke. There isn’t anything else to say. If Palermo call and say something interesting then we can even speak, but at the moment it’s only speculation.”

Via tribalfootball.com.

Magath: “Can’t say Bayern are in crisis”

“The current league table is no reason for us to get cocky”, stressed head coach Felix Magath ahead of Saturday’s trip to Bayern Munich (kick-off: 1530 CET). “We’ve had to work hard and scrap for our points, and on Saturday we’ll have to be prepared to run and battle all day.

“After conceding five goals in our last two games we need to show a bit more stability in defence as well”, he continued. In Magath’s view this applies not just to the nominal defenders, but also to the midfield. He said: “If the midfield scrap for every ball and stay tight in Munich, we ought to be stable at the back.”

It is this ability to pressurise the ball that the Schalke boss feels is a key factor in his side’s successful away record. “We have a tradition of defending well, but we still have problems taking the game forward”, he said, explaining why Schalke have garnered more points away than they have at home. “Away from home you have to react more to what the other team do rather than be pro-active yourself, and we’re finding that easier to do at this stage.”

Bayern’s form is up and down at the moment, but for Magath that is no reason to underestimate them. “It’s normal for teams to have these problems when they get a new coaching team and are asked to play in a different way”, he said, “but Bayern are still hot favourites for the title as far as I’m concerned. Though they won’t be happy with the results in the Champions League and in the Bundesliga, you can hardly say a team who are just four points off the lead are going through a crisis.”

The only thing that interests Magath is the football workload. “Bayern had to do 90 minutes in the Champions League during the week and that will have tired them”, he explained. “We, on the other hand, have been able to rest, which gives us a chance now to come away from Munich with something.” And because Bayern are always favourites regardless of the situation they find themselves in, Magath always welcomes the opportunity to go to Munich. “You can travel down totally relaxed and try to make the best of it”, he said.

Ivan is unfortunately not playing the match from start.

The match is on today, Saturday, at 15:30 CET.

( Source )

Ivan was happy with morale of the team during the match on Saturday saying, “the fact that we could come back after 0-2, shows that the team is in tact.”

Ivan and Asa also sang “Blau und Weiß, wie lieb ich dich” together with the fans.

Text and photos via Schalke04.de

Felix Magath made six changes to the side that began in Cologne on Sunday. Lubos Hanzel and Jan Moravek deputised for Marcelo Bordon and Heiko Westermann (both carrying knocks) in central defence, Lukas Schmitz and Lewis Holtby came in for Christoph Moritz and Levan Kobiashvili in midfield, while Halil Altintop and Kevin Kuranyi replaced Levan Kenia and Gerald Asamoah in attack.

In a cracking atmosphere at the Rudolf Harbig Stadium the Royal Blues got off to a good start against a committed home side. Halil Altintop had the best opportunities early on, but twice met his match in Axel Keller. With three minutes gone the Dynamo goalkeeper turned the Turkey international’s shot around the right-hand post and then pulled off another brilliant save when Altintop popped up in front of him again six minutes later.

The Royal Blues dominated the opening stages, passing the ball around nicely in midfield and pushing forward with great energy. Dynamo also looked to get ball forward whenever possible, but struggled to break down the Schalke defence. Then, after 18 minutes, the home side fashioned their first big chance through Gerrit Müller. After his initial shot had been blocked, Manuel Neuer defused the rebound with a fine save.

While the Dynamo fans were creating a party atmosphere in the stands, it was Schalke who had cause to celebrate on the pitch on 27 minutes when Kevin Kuranyi collected the ball in the Dresden penalty area and netted from close range to give his side a deserved lead.

In the ensuing period Schalke controlled the game to such an extent that Dynamo resorted to playing long balls over the top, but the defence stood firm and the Royal Blues went in at half-time deservedly in front.

Felix Magath’s side came out firing after the restart despite six half-time changes. And after playing a superb one-two with Halil Altintop, Ivan Rakitic ran onto the ball in the Dynamo penalty area and curled a shot into the net to put Schalke two up after 54 minutes.

Halil Altintop was also involved in the next decent move. The Schalke striker collected a fine pass from Levan Kenia and unleashed a shot on the turn from eight metres, only to be denied by substitute goalkeeper Benjamin Kirsten.

Schalke continued to dictate the play and Dynamo, for all their efforts, were unable to mount a threat on Mathias Schober’s goal thanks to some solid defensive work by the men in blue.

But with seven minutes left the stadium erupted. Mathias Schober had initially caught the ball from a corner but lost control of it as he stumbled moving forward. In attempting to regain possession he then brought down the onrushing Pavel Dobry, and referee Bibiana Steinhaus awarded a penalty, which Maik Wagefeld converted with aplomb. Nevertheless, the Royal Blues saw the game out to record a deserved 2-1 win over the third-division side from Saxony.

Statistics:
Schalke: Neuer (Schober 46′) – Moravek (Pachan 46′), Höwedes, Zambrano, Hanzel (Kobiashvili 46′) – Farfan (Rakitic 46′), Pliatsikas, Schmitz, Holtby (Kenia 46′) – Altintop (Sanchez 68′), Kuranyi (Asamoah 46′)

Dynamo Dresden: Keller (Kirsten 46′) – Oppitz (Petrovic 67′), Hübener (Kegel 46′), Zeiger, Trehkopf (Soltau 46′), Nikol, Wagefeld, Müller (Schmidt 70′), Strifler (Kunze 62′), Dobry, Savran (Koch 46′)
Goals: 0-1 Kuranyi (27′), 0-2 Rakitic (54′), 1-2 Wagefeld (pen. 83′)
Attendance: 32,000 (sold out)
Referee: Steinhaus (Hannover)

Via Schalke04.de

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.

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.

The Schalke boss made no secret of his admiration for Spanish football. “As a coach you have to like the way they play the game here”, the 45-year-old said. Racing may only be in 15th place in La Liga, but a 4-2 win in Valencia at the weekend made Rutten sit up and take note.

“I think Racing have enough quality to win at home. Besides, after the 1-0 defeat in the opener at FC Twente they’ll be going all out to beat us”, continued Rutten, before issuing a warning to his players. “They’re capable of playing some great football. If we allow them the space to do that, it’ll be difficult for us.”

Racing are playing in Europe for the first time in their history and on paper are perhaps the ‘weakest’ team in the group, but Schalke will not let that deceive them. “It’s our third away game in a row and Spain is never an easy place to win”, stressed Rutten.

The Dutchman knows what his required of his side if they are to do well at the El Sardinero: “It doesn’t matter whether we’re playing Cottbus, Racing or Bayern, we’re a team who need to be fully focused at all times. If we aren’t, Racing may well score. And that would make it particularly tough for us.” Last Saturday’s match in Cottbus serves as a warning, even though Schalke came away with a 2-0 victory. “We won there, but we also made the kind of mistakes that could have serious consequences against teams with even more quality”, he explained.

In squad terms things are looking very good for the Royal Blues ahead of the game. Christian Pander, who is doing some extra training with the second team in Gelsenkirchen and may feature in the squad for Sunday’s visit of Bayern Munich, and Levan Kenia (ankle injury) are the only players not available for selection. A total of 21 players have thus made the trip to Spain.

Asked whether he would rotate his squad ahead of the top-the-table clash at the VELTINS Arena, Rutten said: “I think we’re in good physical shape, as we showed when we played both PSG and Bielefeld in less than 48 hours. Having said that, after the game in Madrid we made three or four changes for the Bundesliga match against VfL Bochum. With a view to Sunday we might do so again.”

That does nothing to change the underlying strategy, however. “We want to secure qualification from the group stage as quickly as possible. A win will help us along the way, but we’ll have to work hard for it”, concluded Rutten. Jefferson Farfan is already oozing confidence: “We’ve done our homework and know what to expect from Racing. I expect us to get the best result.”

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

( Source )