World Cup Dreams Might Be Over For Fábregas

An injured Cesc Fabregas.

Cesc Fábregas fears his season is over because of a stress fracture to his shin that he might have sustained when he cracked home the penalty which secured Arsenal a dramatic 2-2 draw with Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final.

The Arsenal captain had passed a late fitness test on the knock he took beneath his knee at Birmingham City on Saturday and drove himself through an evening of intense emotion against Barcelona, the club where he started his career.

If Fábregas’ fears are confirmed, he could see his dream of playing at the World Cup finals with Spain in jeopardy. He underwent a scan after the match but the result was inconclusive. He will now undergo a further scan late this afternoon.

“I am not good,” he said. “We have to wait for tomorrow but I hope I will be able to wear the Arsenal shirt again this season. I fear the worst, which is that I broke something. I took the penalty quite strong and after that I went to get the ball and I couldn’t walk any more.

“I don’t think it’s going to be good news but I hope that it will be. It is the fibula. For 85 minutes it was not a gamble to play tonight. I knew in my mind I was not 100% and I knew in my mind that there was something there. But until the penalty I was feeling quite good.

“It was a gamble worth taking. It was an amazing experience, an amazing game and I will remember it all my life. The injury was bad but I think I would have done it anyway, having been injured before.”

Fábregas knew he would miss the second leg of the tie through suspension after being booked for a foul on Sergio Busquets, a yellow card that his manager Arsène Wenger described as “cheap” and “undeserved”.

But Fábregas fought on and, even after scoring the 85th-minute equaliser, he refused to come off as Arsenal had used their three substitutes. It was a decision, Wenger said, dictated by adrenaline and one that might have worsened the injury.

Fábregas was devastated to be booked for his challenge on Busquets, in which he appeared to take the ball but catch the Barcelona midfielder with his trailing leg. “It was very tough to be booked because I thought I won the ball really well. It is really not nice but that is football and I cannot play anyway because of the injury. The team can definitely do it without me.”

Courtesy of The Guardian