cesc fàbregas: Bio

Francesc Fabregas Soler, 'Cesc' is a central midfielder who possesses excellent vision of the game, mature and a fighter on the pitch, he is also known to have an eye for the goal especially from long range.

Club

Originally from the FC Barcelona youth academy, Cesc joined Arsenal FC in October 2003 when he was 16 years old. Cesc currently has a contract which ties him down to the London club until 2014.

Spanish Team

Cesc produced some excellent performances with Spain in the FIFA 2003 U-17 in Finland.
He was named player of the tournament and received the golden shoe after netting five goals to help Spain reach the final which they lost 1-0 to Brazil.
Cesc was a key player of the Spanish team which competed in the U-17 UEFA Euro 2004 tournament in France, in the semi-finals he scored a crucial 89th minute winner against England which helped Spain reach the final which they eventually lost to France, hosts of the tournament.
Cesc made his debut for the Spanish first team on the 01-03-2006 in Valladolid in a friendly game against Ivory Coast.
It is also worth mentioning his appearances in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany where they knocked out at the last sixteen stages after losing to France 3-1.

Cesc finally won a trophy, the UEFA Euro 2008 cup which was hosted in Austria and Switzerland. In the group stages Spain had to play Greece, Sweden and Russia. In the first game Spain beat Russia 4-1 and the fourth goal was scored by Cesc. In the second game against Sweden, Cesc was used as a substitute and Spain won 2-1. He started and played the entire game against Greece which Spain won 2-1.
In the quarter-final they faced current World Champions, Italy, the result was 0-0 and Spain won in penalties (4-2), Iker Casillas made two saves in the shoot-out and the decisive penalty was scored by Cesc.
In the semi-finals they beat Russia 3-0 who was coached by Dutch trainer Guus Hiddink, in this match Cesc had a solid performance and produced two assists for the last two goals scored.
Spain faced Germany in the final and won by the smallest of margins, 1-0 thanks to a goal by Torres, Cesc was substituted for Xavi Alonso (63")

2003

Made his Arsenal debut in the third round of the League Cup (Carling Cup) against Rotherham United on October 28th making him the youngest player to play for Arsenal FC in a competitive game.

2004/2005

Cesc made his Premiership debut against Everton FC (1-4) in the first game of the season, he went on to play another 24 games that year with the London club who finished runners up in the league.
He scored his first goal in the league in a 3-0 victory against Blackburn Rovers FC on the 25th of August, his first goal in the EUFA Champions League in a 5-1 victory against Rosenborg in December which made him the youngest player to score a goal for Arsenal in the European competition.
It is also worth noting that he made his debut for the Catalan club on the 25-05-05 against Brazil in the Camp Nou (2-5)

2005/2006

This was a season in which Cesc started to have an important role in the midfield of the team. Good games in Europe and a great performance at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid (0-1) in the last 16 stage of the Champions League were quickly followed by an outstanding performance against Juventus at Highbury (2-0) in the quarter finals in which Cesc scored a goal and made the second. The main highlight of the season was reaching the final in Paris against FC Barcelona (2-1) which they lost. However, the experience of reaching the final was a very positive one.

2006/2007

In this season Cesc is widely regarded as a key player in the team, his performances were good and he also showed a more aggressive side of his game in midfield. However this was not a good season, eliminated in the last 16 of the Champions League, defeated in the League Cup final and eliminated in the quater finals of the FA Cup. They finished fourth in the league which forced the team to play a qualification game to reach the group stages of the Champions League.

2007-2008

Without Henry in the team sheet, Cesc was given more responsibilities within the team. This season Arsenal FC was the team to watch in Europe, eye-catchy performances in the Champions League and the Premiership meant that a lot of Europeans watched Arsenal play with high expectations. Unforgettable nights like the one at the San Siro against AC Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League saw Cesc put his team in the next round with a long range goal. At the end no trophy was won and Cesc had to settle for third place in the Premiership.
However, the quality shown by this team assembled by Arsene Wenger gives a lot of hope for the future.