Chelsea were always the team I wanted to beat the most, admits Cesc Fabregas as he reminisces on a Jose Mourinho rivalry and compares his boss to Pep Guardiola
- Cesc Fabregas joined Chelsea from hometown club Barcelona in June 2014
- He says that the team he has most wanted to beat in his career is Chelsea
- Now a Chelsea player, he thinks Jose Mourinho is similar to Pep Guardiola
- Fabregas also compared Eden Hazard to former team-mate Lionel Messi
Cesc
Fabregas has admitted he never would have dreamed of playing for Jose
Mourinho three years ago when the two were arch-enemies in Spain.
The
Chelsea midfielder now says he’s happier than ever playing for the
former Real Madrid manager, compares him with Pep Guardiola, and says he
is desperate to win the European Cup with him.
Asked
in an interview in El Pais in Spain if he could ever have imagined
working for Mourinho he says: ‘Three years ago no. It just shows you how
you can never tell in life, and even more so in football. We had a very
intense rivalry with Mourinho. It never reached the level of hatred,
not even close, but there were disagreements with him and [John] Terry
too. Chelsea were always the team that I most wanted to beat.’
Cesc Fabregas (right) admits his rivalry with Jose Mourinho (second left) was very strong in Spain
Fabregas, now at Chelsea, sees Mourinho in a different light and has put the past behind him
Hazard compared Pep Guardiola (left) and Mourinho, saying they both have a winning mentality
Asked
how Terry received Fabregas into the dressing room when he joined last
summer the Spain international said: ‘He told me that anything I needed I
could count on him.
'We
have now reached the stage where we can tell the tales of some of the
battles we had to some of the younger players, and I certainly had some
battles, especially with Terry and [Frank] Lampard.’
Fabregas
was a London rival for both Terry and Mourinho when he signed for
Arsenal from Barcelona. He then took the rivalry with Mourinho back to
Spain with him when he returned to play for his boyhood team and the
Chelsea manager took over at Real Madrid.
Having worked for both Mourinho and Pep Guardiola he says they are not as unlike as they are often portrayed.
Fabregas had a huge rivalry with Mourinho while they were at Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively
Fabregas clashed with Frank Lampard and Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final in 2011-12
Fabregas, now flying at Chelsea, compared his current team-mate Eden Hazard with Lionel Messi (right)
‘They
have one very important thing that unites them’ he said. ‘They are
winners. They both hate losing. It's a mistake to think they are so
different.’
Fabregas
believes the similarities are even on the increase now that Chelsea
have started playing a style of football closer to that played by
Guardiola. He said: ‘This is not a team that sits and waits for the
other side to attack. We want the ball and we want to attack.’
The
Chelsea midfielder is hoping to win his first Champions League with
Chelsea after losing the Paris final with Arsenal in 2006 and failing to
lift the trophy for Barcelona.
He
said: ‘I would like to win it at least once. At the same time I don’t
want it to become an obsession. I want to win everything with Chelsea.’
Fabregas says Hazard (left) is similar to Messi physically, as well as being honest and always wanting the ball
Fabregas joined Barcelona from Arsenal in 2011, and after three years moved back to England with Chelsea
Fabregas
again dismissed the idea that he had any sway in making Leo Messi turn
his back on Barcelona to move to London and he said he believes, in Eden
Hazard Chelsea have a player who can reach the heights of the
Argentine.
He
said: ‘There are even physical comparisons with the way he is short,
strong and impossible to knock off the ball. He is honest, he never goes
to ground, he always wants the ball, he doesn’t over-elaborate for the
sake of show and he is just a very, very good player. He has the quality
to go very far but he should maybe more ambitious when he’s in front of
goal.’
For
now it’s Fabregas that is scoring the lion’s share of goals from
midfield despite playing in a deeper role for Chelsea than he did at
Barcelona.
He
told El Pais: ‘I am playing deeper [than at Barcelona] but
participating more. I touch the ball 90 or 100 times a game and I missed
that feeling. At Barcelona I played further forward and it was down to
the centre backs to bring the ball out from the back.’
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