Barcelona: Cesc Fabregas's 26th birthday celebrations on Saturday may have been more subdued than usual after Barcelona's Champions League exit to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, the latest in a series of key matches in which he has failed to impress.
The former Arsenal captain has struggled to live up to sky-high expectations since returning to his boyhood club in the summer of 2011, even prompting media speculation he may move on again at the end of the current campaign.
Pep Guardiola left him out of some of the club's biggest games towards the end of last season and his replacement as coach, his former assistant and close friend Tito Vilanova, has followed suit.
Fabregas has started 26 of Barca's 33 La Liga matches this term but, more tellingly, only half of the 12 Champions League games....
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10:02 AM, May 05, 2013
Pep Guardiola is not the only connection between Bayern Munich and Barcelona, who meet in their Champions League semi-final, first leg at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday. Both teams are dominating their leagues to an almost embarrassing extent, have won the Champions League four times apiece, share an acrimonious rivalry with Real Madrid, and owe part of their success to the flamboyant Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Both have also been...
06:27 PM, Apr 22, 2013
Barcelona: Cesc Fabregas scored his first hat-trick to shine in place of the injured Lionel Messi, powering Barcelona to a 5-0 thrashing of Mallorca in La Liga on Saturday. The Catalan club's festive night got even better in the 70th minute when Eric Abidal went on for his first game with Barcelona since a liver transplant last year. "Tonight is for Abi," said Fabregas. "Any other night would have been...
03:42 AM, Apr 07, 2013
Cesc Fabregas opened the scoring in the 50th minute and the 19-year-old Raphael Varane headed an equalizer in the 81st for Real Madrid. ...
04:07 AM, Jan 31, 2013
The Frenchman agreed it was difficult when top players walked away, especially when they were reaching their prime. ...
09:02 PM, Dec 13, 2012
The Spain international will miss Spanish league games against Atletico Madrid and Valladolid and the Copa del Rey match versus Cordoba. ...
09:13 AM, Dec 10, 2012
Moscow: An artificial pitch, freezing conditions in Moscow and a wily coach who knows them all too well are some of the obstacles that stand between Group G leaders Barcelona and qualification to the last 16 on Tuesday. The La Liga leaders take on Spartak still smarting form a shock 2-1 defeat at Celtic last time round, and have flown to Russia with all their big guns to make sure...
10:57 PM, Nov 19, 2012
Madrid: Barcelona didn't need Lionel Messi to secure a successful start to their Copa del Rey defence on Tuesday, beating third-tier Alaves 3-0 after goals by David Villa, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas. Villa opened the scoring in the 40th minute when he perfectly timed his run past Alaves' back four to powerfully latch onto a long pass by Iniesta and send it into the net via the crossbar. Villa,...
08:36 AM, Oct 31, 2012
London: For Arsenal it seemed their chickens came home to roost as their proud record of never having lost to foreign opposition at the Emirates Stadium ended with a whimper on Wednesday. Their 2-0 defeat by Schalke 04 may not prove terminal to their hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League but the manner of it left a pall of gloom hanging over the under-achieving north London...
06:35 PM, Oct 25, 2012
Madrid: With Lionel Messi as a three-time goal-taker and Cesc Fabregas as a three-time goal-maker, 10-man Barcelona outlasted Deportivo La Coruna in a wild 5-4 shootout in the Spanish league on Saturday. Fabregas set up Jordi Alba's opener before Cristian Tello and Messi both followed suit as Barcelona roared to 3-0 just 18 minutes in at Riazor Stadium. But some dubious officiating saw Javier Mascherano sent off in the 49th,...
11:06 AM, Oct 22, 2012
Madrid: FC Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas has ruled out any hint of problems with new coach Tito Vilanova. Although he has started his side's three BBVA Primera Liga matches this season, Fabregas, who joined Barca from Arsenal a season ago, was substitute in his side's two Spanish Super Cup matches against Real Madrid, reports Xinhua. TV cameras captured him with a discontented look on his face in the Barca dugout...
01:41 PM, Sep 05, 2012
Faro, Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 36th international goal and Nelson Oliveira scored his first as Portugal beat Panama 2-0 on a day of international friendlies where the world and European champions Spain beat Puerto Rico 2-1. Ronaldo span around on the edge of the area and fired a half-volley past Jaime Penedo in the 51st minute after Panama midfielder Gabriel Gomez was sent off for elbowing Joao Moutinho. Oliveira,...
09:44 AM, Aug 16, 2012
Barcelona: Lionel Messi has revealed that his team-mates in Barcelona's La Masia youth set-up thought he was dumb. The Barca forward scored a record 73 goals in 60 appearances in a stellar 2011-12 season as the club won four trophies, but his ability on the pitch was questioned early on in his career by his team-mates. "Cesc Fabregas told me that when I was little, I dressed in silence and...
08:27 AM, Jul 15, 2012
Kiev: Spain's talented midfielders answered weeks of criticism over boring play with a masterclass performance of attacking football that led it to a second straight European Championship. Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Cesc Fabregas and David Silva repaid coach Vicente del Bosque's trust in fielding a starting lineup without a traditional striker by pulling the strings in Sunday's 4-0 victory over Italy. The four players were involved in nearly all four...
09:34 AM, Jul 02, 2012
It's all about sharing. Spain and Portugal share a border, two coastlines and an entire peninsula. They share a climate, a parallel political past and currently, a crisis. But right now, they also share a dream. The two neighbouring nations come face to face in the semi-finals of Euro 2012 on Wednesday night and only one can progress to the continental competition's Sunday showpiece in Kiev. At 20:45 CET this...
03:47 PM, Jun 27, 2012
Four years ago, Spain made history at the Euros, finally ending 44 years of pain and misery as the perennial under-achievers of international football. Now they arrive at Euro 2012 as defending champions and World Cup winners, looking to become the first side to win three major international trophies in a row. It is no surprise that Spain are the favourites once again, with the core of the squad that...
11:49 AM, Jun 04, 2012
Barcelona: Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas insists that he will be 100 percent fit for the start of Euro 2012. The Barcelona man suffered a thigh injury shortly after coming on as a substitute in Friday night's Copa del Rey final win over Athletic Bilbao and has been ruled out of action for 10 days. The news has cast some doubt on Fabregas' participation in his country's tournament opener against Italy...
12:10 PM, May 28, 2012
Madrid: Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas is set to miss a big chunk of Spain's preparations for Euro 2012 after being ruled out for seven to 10 days with a hamstring strain, the Spanish club said on Saturday. Fabregas picked up the injury to his right thigh when he came on for the last 10 minutes of Barca's 3-0 King's Cup final win over Athletic Bilbao on Friday. The former Arsenal...
12:43 PM, May 27, 2012
Barcelona: Barcelona says it will be without midfielder Cesc Fabregas for three weeks due to injury. The Spanish champion says Fabregas hurt a muscle in his right thigh during training on Saturday. The Spain international is the latest Barcelona player to succumb to injury with midfielder Andres Iniesta and forward Alexis Sanchez already missing. Iniesta trained with Barcelona on Friday but is unlikely to return for Sunday's league match at...
06:56 PM, Oct 01, 2011
