Some photos of Ivan from early 2009 Bundesliga matches has been added to the gallery. More from Bundesliga and other matches/appearances will be added throughout the weekend.

Schalke defeated Dynamo Dresden by two goals to one in the inaugural game at the third-division club’s new stadium on Tuesday evening. Kevin Kuranyi and Ivan Rakitic got the goals in front of 32,000 spectators.

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

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.

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 )