CESC FEELS THE PRESSURE

The star midfielder of Barcelona, Cesc Fabregas, has admitted that he wasn’t able to stand up to the expectations of the club in the later part of the last season, but, he has said that the new coach, Tito Vilanova, is helping him a lot in the practice sessions and he would regain his form in the upcoming season.

Fabregas joined Barcelona in the last season. Before that, he used to play for Arsenal. The club had massive hopes from him and he started the last season pretty well. He played his first match for Barcelona against Real Madrid. His first goal for Barcelona was against FC Porto in UEFA Super Cup. But, as the season progressed, his performance gradually deteriorated.

On being asked why he wasn’t able to maintain the same kind of form throughout the last season, Fabregas said that he tried to improvise too much. He should have kept the things simple and should have done the basics right. But, he tried to change his playing style a bit too much and that proved to be costly. As per Fabregas, he would play his natural game in the upcoming season and would not try to transform his playing style.

There have been speculations that Fabregas might not get a chance to feature in the first team of Barcelona at the start of the season. Now, with the come back of David Villa, it has become even more difficult for him to find a place in the first team. On being asked about that, Fabregas said that it is up to the team management to decide who should be given a chance to feature in the first team, but, if he gets a chance, he would try to put up an improved performance and contribute a bit more than the previous season.

CESC EXCITED ABOUT EUROS

Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas has said that he is looking at the opportunity to win the Euro 2012, which would put an end to the miserable season that he has been having with Barcelona. Even though he has won many trophies in his first season with the Spanish club, it has been viewed as a disappointment by many due to the absence of the league title and the Champions League. Fabregas has said that even though he likes the view that the failure to win the league title would be considered as a disappointment, he wants to win the Euro 2012 with Spain.

Barcelona failed to retain their league title for the first time in four seasons after many have been criticising the arrival of Cesc Fabregas as the main reason for it. The former Arsenal midfielder was extremely good in the first half of the season, but was equally poor in the second half of the campaign. His presence within the squad meant that manager Guardiola had to change a number of tactics in order to incorporate the former Arsenal man within the team. Many believe that it has spoilt the balance of the team.

“The goals flowed at first but I wasn’t sure how well I was playing. However, the team was winning trophies and people judge you on that more than anything. Then there was a long spell where the ball simply refused to go in for me and people judge you on that. The whole process has confirmed something I already suspected – that football isn’t easy. You can do everything really well and it’s still not good enough sometimes. Nobody remembers who was involved in the build-up to a goal but they can recall the guy who put it away,” said Fabregas after scoring the fourth goal in the 4-0 win over Ireland.

MOURINHO: STILL BARCA

Real Madrid manager José Mourinho has said that Barcelona manager Guardiola’s decision to step down from the Barcelona hot seat is unlikely to change anything from the Madrid perspective. There has been a suggestion that Barcelona will not be the same again once Guardiola leaves the club, which might play into the hands of Real Madrid. There has always been a popular suggestion amongst Spanish football that every club has a four year cycle during which they seem to be unstoppable. Barcelona have reached the wall according to many, but Mourinho believes that Madrid will continue to remain the same irrespective of the manager who leads Barcelona.

José Mourinho is on course to win his fourth different league title in four different countries. They currently have a seven point lead over Barcelona in the table with only a few matches remaining. They defeated Sevilla 3-0 during the weekend, which was the final of the tough matches they had to face this season according to many pundits. Even though Real Madrid were eliminated from the semifinals of the Champions League on penalties, José Mourinho reckons that the league title will go a long way into erasing the memories of the painful defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich.

“I don’t know why it would benefit us. Real Madrid is Real Madrid, Real Madrid will continue along its own path, Real Madrid has its own decisions to make. My decision to continue at Real Madrid has nothing to do with who is the coach of any other team. It doesn’t appear to me that Barcelona has people on its board of directors without talent, quite the opposite. If they have decided that [Tito] Vilanova is the ideal person to be the next coach for sure they are doing it with conviction,” Mourinho said.