Cesc Fabregas defends Xavi after Barca's European knock-out and Liga stumble

Cesc Fabregas defends Xavi after Barca's European knock-out and Liga stumble

Cesc / | sport

The former Barcelona and Chelsea midfielder spoke about his ex-colleague

Cesc Fàbregas was Xavi's teammate at Barça and that makes a difference. They both grew up in the Blaugrana grassroots system and know exactly what the demands are. That's why their opinion on the football that Barca play has to be taken into account. The midfielder spoke to Cadena Ser's 'El Larguero' to analyse Barça's current situation and other issues.

Cesc, who has switched Monaco for Como, said about his arrival in Italy, that "I wanted to go with football people, I didn't care about the level and where, I just wanted to play football. I just wanted to play football. Besides, the club made it easy for me to get my coaching licence. I coach the second team, in fact", explained the player.

Cesc said he likes Xavi's Barça: "I like it. You can see things that you didn't see years ago. I think he will say that there are things to improve, but I think there is already a lot of improvement. The Europa League is a blow that makes you realise that you are not at that European level. If we win the league this year, it will be a big step forward".

When questioned about the Negreira case, the player from Maresme limited himself to saying that "we players don't have to get involved because that's something that's very much above us. I can't tell you much because I don't know how the story goes", although he did remember that "they robbed a league (from us) against Atletico Madrid, disallowing a goal that was legal."

Cesc is one of those who speaks with full knowledge of the facts and doesn't use clichés. So it was when he was asked for his opinion on the way Luis de la Fuente told Sergio Ramos that he would not be available: "I don't want this to be misinterpreted: I thought it was good that the coach told him directly before he found out from a third party. Lopetegui called me and told me he wanted to try playing younger players. I was winning the Premier League at the time and it didn't sit well with me. It's impossible to feel good about that."

He also reflected on the controversy surrounding Vinicius in terms of opposition defenders being overly physical: "If I had been a full-back, I would have tried to shut him down him as best I could, even doing things I don't do with other players. We have to try to take him out of the game because he's very good".

However, the player also believes the Brazilian should be self-critical: "The player has some blame because you can't lose yourself in this and leave. He's a very young boy, you also have to take that into account. If he controls this well, he can be unstoppable like Ronaldinho or Neymar."

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