Rakitic laments Barca draw

Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic was left hurting after his side conceded twice late on to draw 2-2 against Deportivo La Coruna.

The Croatia international and Lionel Messi had the La Liga leaders in control at Camp Nou on Saturday before Lucas Perez and Alex Bergantinos struck late on for the visitors.

After giving up a lead to draw a second consecutive league game, Rakitic said it was tough to accept the result.

“Sometimes it’s tough to control what happens out on the pitch. We have to analyse it, talk about it and improve,” he said.

“We controlled the game, which was positive, but it hurts to draw after being up 2–0.”

Rakitic’s goal had Barca 2-0 up just after the hour-mark, with Messi having curled in a brilliant first-half free-kick.

He rued his team’s failure to put the visitors away.

“We have to congratulate Deportivo because they played their game until the end,” Rakitic said.

“We had chances to score more and we just didn’t put away the game.”