Mourinho: Rakitic is one of the most underrated players in the world
LaLiga Santander - Barcelona Croatian scored winner against Los Blancos
Jose Mourinho has revealed his admiration for Ernesto Valverde's Barcelona after their 1-0 win over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The former Madrid head coach was a pundit on beIN Sports' coverage of the LaLiga Santander fixture.
"They are much more solid than in other seasons," said Mourinho. "They know how to defend and be together.
"Although they don't play the beautiful football they're used to, they're winning games and this is key to challenging the big teams in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League."
Mourinho was impressed with the individual performances of the likes of Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet and Ivan Rakitic.
"He's one of the most underrated players in the world," Mourinho said of Rakitic. "Fantastic in all levels; he defends, he compensates for [Lionel] Messi, he runs and he's sensible with the ball at his feet."
Perhaps in a slight dig at Paul Pogba, the Portuguese had some words of advice for the Croatian.
"He has to improve his Instagram and social media because this is very important now," he said.