FC Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic says the team want to win Sunday's El Clasico for suspended teammate Neymar.
The Brazilian, who has come in for some heavy criticism after his poor performance against Juventus in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, will miss his team's crucial game against Los Blancos as he is serving a three-match ban after sarcastically applauding the fourth official following his red card in Barca's 2-0 defeat to Malaga about two weeks ago.
Knowing that the Blaugrana need a victory in El Clasico in order to have a chance of winning the league title this season, Rakitic has urged his teammates to go out and show the 25-year-old they can win even when he is not available.
"I don't think it needs repeating that he is an important player," the Croatia international told Sky Sports.
"(The ban) is not good, but it is what it is. We need to understand the situation and push on.
"In the past, we have already shown that we can also win when Neymar isn't playing. Of course, it would be much better to have him with us, because he is one of the two or three best players in the world.
"We have a lot of confidence and we have a very strong team. We want to show Neymar that when he is not with us we can still do it, and hopefully, we can take a victory for him."
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A loss to Real will see the Catalan club fall six points behind the log leaders.
Do you think Barcelona will be able to see off Los Blancos without Neymar? Have your say in the comments section below.
