Hours before the World Cup grand finale, Croatia football star Rakitic posted a picture with his spouse Raquel Mauri on Instagram, praising her for always supporting him.
“Everything is possible with my love, thanks for always supporting me, my life. Go Croatia. I love you, beautiful,” the caption reads.
Rakitic has been married to Mauri since 2015 – the couple has two children, Althea and Adara, but their love story was definitely made for movie screens.
The player once revealed that he met Raquel in a coffee shop, where she used to work, the night before he signed to play for the Sevilla football club.
“Another team called me and were prepared to lay-out a private plane for me to go and sign for them. I said to my brother: ‘No, I’ve given my word to the Sevilla president; I’m going to sign the contract tomorrow… and I’m going to marry that waitress’,” he said, adding that he had asked her out “20 or 30 times” before she finally accepted his invitation.
Raquel, who is also in Russia now, cheering on her man ahead of the biggest game in his life, eagerly shares pictures of her and her family with over 600,000 followers on Instagram.
Croatia is set to take on France in the World Cup finals at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on July 15 at 6 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. GMT).