The Blaugrana successfully navigated past the group stages of the Champions League to book themselves a berth in the last-16 of the tournament where they have been drawn to take on Italian giants AC Milan.
Fabregas, who moved to Arsenal early in his budding career and blossomed as a player with the Gunners, made the move back to his boyhood club in 2011 and has since helped the Catalan giants to success in the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
And the 25-year-old outlined his intention to lead Barcelona to success in the Champions League this season, but warned his side not to underestimate a Milan side underachieving in their domestic league.
"I'm very eager to win the Champions League, and to win it with Barça would be the best present any footballer could hope for," Fabregas was quoted as saying by the official Barcelona website.
"The next two weeks are extremely important. It will be very complicated but we have to have the same confidence that we've had up until now.
"The match against Milan is key because we want to go to Wembley. We believe that they will be a very difficult rival because of the players they have and because of their history.
"If we aren't at 100% we will not go through to the next round."
Fabregas, who has failed to hold down a regular spot in the first-team, was recently linked with a move back to Arsenal at the end of the season, but the Spain international insisted he was not looking to leave the club and claimed he intended to retire at Barcelona.
"I've come back to Barça to stay for the rest of my career," Fabregas declared.
"If it were up to me, and if everything goes well, I'll fight as hard as I can to retire here."
The centre-midfielder also hailed the contributions of team-mate Sergio Busquets and pinpointed the 24-year-old as an integral cog of the Barcelona midfield.
"He's vital for the equilibrium of the team," Fabregas explained.
"Sometimes it's hard to appreciate what he does, but he does a tremendous amount for the team.
"In the past few years he's been getting the credit he deserves, especially here.
"I believe he's indispensable for the present and the future of this club."
Barcelona will take on Granada in the La Liga on Saturday before their trip to Milan next Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment