Rakitic on opening goal vs. Juve: 'That has to be the most important goal of my career'

These are the kinds of moments Ivan Rakitic envisioned when he signed with Barcelona last summer.

Rakitic, who was the Man of the Match when Sevilla triumphed in the Europa League final last year, scored the opening goal of Saturday's Champions League final against Juventus, and though Juve equalized 10 minutes into the second half before tallies from Luis Suarez and Neymar lifted Barcelona to the title, he was fully aware of the magnitude of the moment after the final whistle.

Rakitic's fourth-minute goal was the fourth fastest in Champions League final history, as he finished an awesome display of passing between Neymar and Andres Iniesta with a first-touch strike that just eluded a diving Gianluigi Buffon.

The Croatian midfielder only had one crack at goal on the evening, but he made the most of it in producing arguably the defining moment of his career to date.