5 reasons why Barcelona could win the Champions League 2017-18

#4 Rakitic has moulded his game to suit the Barca style of play

Growing into his own in the red and blue for Barcelona..

Ivan Rakitic enjoyed a brilliant first season with the Catalans as he went on to win the treble in his debut season.

The second season was tangentially different, as Barcelona failed to pick up any major accolades with their rivals Real Madrid doing the double over them - including retaining the Champions League in the first time in history.

That set off the alarm-bells at Camp Nou and the press started attacking the new entrants into the team with Ivan taking a fair share of the blame, as Barca looked out of sorts in midfield for the majority of the season.

Following a couple of failures the performances of the Croat started coming under further scrutiny and the fact that he failed to link up with Messi, or simply function at his wavelength, hurt his case even more when he failed to do his defensive duties in the side.

The Croation has showed his class and intelligence this season, by firstly admitting that he will not be able to affect the offensive side of things in a team dominated by superstars. He has then gone on to change his game and focus on other ball-winning and tackling aspects of the game.

He has been a revelation ever since and has been a sturdy presence in the middle of the park, winning the ball back almost as often and professionally as Busquets does it, which is why that even in the latter's absence in the side, Rakitic has been vital in the unbeaten run that his side currently enjoys.