Barcelona’s defeat of Arsenal last night was of little surprise to the football world, especially with Arsenal being reduced to 10 men with over half an hour to go.
What did shock was the lacklustre performance of Arsenal’s key player and captain, Cesc Fabregas. The stage was set, his first competitive game at the Camp Nou, a stadium where he stood in the terraces 15 years earlier cheering on his idol, the now Barca manager, Pep Guardiola.
Following the much publicised pursuit of the Spaniard last summer which ended in failure for the Catalan giants, the Arsenal talisman was expected to go out and give a performance to show Barca how pivotal he would be to their team, to earn him his dream move. However the opposite occurred.
Whether Cesc was fit or not, as a captain he should set an example to the rest of the team, instead his only real contribution to the game was to give the ball away in the lead up to Messi skilfully putting the Spanish team ahead in the tie. From playing in the same youth team as the likes of Piqué and Messi, Fabregas looked a million miles away from playing at their level and could his move to England at such an important stage of his footballing development be to blame for this.
Fabregas’ performance was overshadowed by a young 19 year old by the name of Jack Wilshere. The England starlet, named man of the match in the first leg, once again proved he is the real deal, and should Barca want to strengthen their midfield in the summer (although it is hardly a weak midfield at the moment) they could do much worse than to take a punt on the midfield maestro.
In fact, in what was supposed to be a year when Wilshere would begin to break into the Arsenal first team, he has in fact took it by storm and is level on starts with Laurent Koscielny, impressive when you also consider he had a three match ban as well. More significant is that Wilshere has started nine more times than Fabregas, further evidence of the Catalan’s injury problems rearing their ugly head as they have done in previous seasons.
There is no doubt that Fabregas possesses the ability to be one of the worlds top players, but has his passion for Arsenal waned and does he need to leave the Premier League as its physical dominance could be inhibiting his chances of fulfilling his undoubted potential and contributing to his time spent in the treatment room.
The real question must now be asked, should Arsenal cash in on their captain if an offer arrives this summer? Or did Arsenal’s ineffective Carling Cup Final performance, a game they played without Fabregas, prove they still rely on him a great deal even with last nights forgettable display?
What is for certain is that after a laboured performance in midfield, resulting in him being substituted and jeered by the fans from the terraces of where he once stood, he will want to get out on the pitch against Manchester United on Saturday and show the world who the real Francesc Fabregas is.
