Rakitic: Messi can be calm and should recover well FC Barcelona Barcelona fine without their No.10

After a thumping 5-1 win over Real Madrid in El Clasico, Ivan Rakitic suggested that Lionel Messi can and should take his time on the road to recovery.

The Catalans proved that they can still be decisive even without their talisman.

"We really enjoyed playing like this is, which isn't easy when Leo is not there," the Croatian said to beIN Sports.

"We were very superior and that's the way it feels".

"We played a great match from the first minute, had very clear ideas and the third goal helped us a lot to have peace of mind."

Madrid did score through Marcelo and had Luka Modric scored instead of striking the upright, the outcome might've been very different.

"Madrid had chances," he added.

"But they weren't very clever and luckily we have reacted."