Barça Star Reveals Admiration for Fellow Midfielder and Legendary Teammate

Barcelona's midfield man Ivan Rakitic has highlighted his admiration for teammate Lionel Messi by claiming the Argentinian remains a topic of conversation in the Rakitic household.

Messi once again stole the headlines as Barça cruised to a 3-1 win against Leganes on Saturday en route to equalling the Spanish record for an unbeaten league run (38) - with Messi inevitably bagging all three.

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The hat-trick elevates Messi to 29 league goals for the season and, following yet another inspiring display, Rakitic was quick to recognise the Argentinian's achievements post match.

Speaking to Movistar Partidazo, via Marca, he said: "If everyone is talking about Messi then it's because he's earned it.

"I'll also speak about him when I return home."

The Croatian went on to describe his feeling of pride following his side's achievement of matching Real Sociedad's record of 38 La Liga games unbeaten.

"We are very proud to have matched this record," he added.

"This is now part of Barcelona and part of what Barcelona means. It's a record that has to be here."

Rakitic was quick to add, however, that equalling the record cannot act as a distraction ahead of Tuesday night's Champions League quarter final second leg against Roma.

"We can't give too much importance to it because we have another match every three or four days and we have a tough game against Roma coming up."

Barcelona take a 4-1 first leg advantage heading into that tie, as their stellar domestic and European campaign continues.