Awesome FanPost with STATS!!! Keep them coming, guys! The best FanPosts will be on the front page. You are more than welcome to write them! - Renato

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Recently, I've seen a lot of comments from Barca Blaugranes users criticizing Ivan Rakitic and his performances lately.

Rakitic received a lot of criticism during the 2-1 defeat Barcelona suffered against Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie in the Copa del Rey. Barça's midfield struggled to control the game and create chances due to Bilbao's aggressive high press and aggressive tackling. As a result, Rakitic was blamed by many. However, these people ignored the poor performance that Sergio Busquets had, reminiscent of his run of form at the tail end of 2016 leading up to El Clasico, and the abnormally bad game from captain Andres Iniesta, whose errant pass led to Bilbao's opening goal, and he also gave the ball away many times.

As a result of this criticism of Rakitic, I decided to compare the league performances of the four men who play primarily as an interior RCM or LCM for Barca: Denis Suarez, André Gomes, Andres Iniesta, and Ivan Rakitic.

Ivan Rakitic has a Squawka performance score of 263 (1st out of 4) from 12 total appearances. He has scored 2 goals, created 11 chances, and created 1 assist. Rakitic has a shot accuracy of 40%. He has completed 556 passes, with 88% of passes completed, 68% of passes played forward, and an average pass length of 17 meters. Rakitic has 1 yellow card, and averages 2 defensive actions per game, and wins 52% of his duels.

Andres Iniesta has a Squawka performance score of 237 (2nd out of 4) from 8 total appearances. He has scored 0 goals, and has created 11 chances with 3 assists. Iniesta has a shot accuracy of 17%. He has completed 314 passes, with 87% of his passes completed, 75% of his passes played forward, and an average pass length of 18 meters. Iniesta has 0 yellow cards, averages 2 defensive actions per game, and wins 69% of his duels.

Denis Suarez has a Squawka performance score of 134 (3rd out of 4) from 15 total appearances. He has scored 0 goals and has created 8 chances, with 2 assists. Denis has a shot accuracy of 50%. He has completed 345 passes, with 88% pass accuracy, 57% of passes played forward, and an average pass length of 17 meters. Denis has 1 yellow card, averages 1 defensive action per game, and wins 42% of his duels.

André Gomes has a Squawka performance score of -29 (4th out of 4) from 11 total appearances. He has scored 0 goals, and has created 4 chances, with 0 assists. Gomes has a 0% shot accuracy. He has completed 345 passes with an 88% pass accuracy, 63% of passes played forward, and an average pass length of 16 meters. Gomes has 0 yellow cards, averages 1 defensive action per game, and wins 34% of his duels.

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It is clear from this comparison that, despite significantly less playing time, Iniesta has easily been Barcelona's best interior midfielder. He is the player with the longest average pass, highest forward passing percentage, and highest duels won percentage. However, the next best midfielder has been Ivan Rakitic, with significantly better stats than his competitors. After a large gap, Denis has been the third best midfielder this season. Lastly, André Gomes has easily been Barcelona's worst central midfielder in La Liga according to the stats, and even has a negative Squawka performance score. Therefore, after comparing their stats, I believe that Rakitic and Iniesta should retain their positions in central midfield in Luis Enrique's Gala XI.