Barcelona v Arsenal: Cesc Fabregas insists he is focused on securing Champions League progress for Arsenal
Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has said he is only interested in Arsenal's Champions League future, despite the constant speculation linking him with a move to boyhood club Barcelona
Divided loyalties: Cesc Fabregas insists he is focussed on helping Arsenal ahead of the game against his boyhood club Photo: AFP
By Thom Gibbs 9:06AM GMT 08 Mar 2011
The teams meet at the nou camp this evening in the second leg of a Champions League last 16 game, and Fabregas insists he is purely concerned with helping Arsenal progress in the competition.
"For all my connections with Barça, tonight is all about Arsenal," the Spain midfielder told The Sun. "All I will be concentrating on is how to help Arsenal through to the quarter-finals. It is something that I want as badly as any Arsenal fan."
Fabregas conceded that he is close with several members of the Barcelona squad, but hopes that the Spanish champions will suffer without two of their ineligible defenders.
"I have a lot of friends still in the Barca team, many of whom I won the World Cup with last summer, and I consider them friends for life," Fabregas said.
"I believe it is a big boost for Arsenal that two of my close friends – Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique – are not playing this evening as the former is injured while the latter is suspended."
Arsenal take a 2-1 aggregate lead into the game, but Fabregas believes his team cannot afford to be complacent about their lead. "We should not rest on our victory in the first leg," he said. "The job is not finished by a long way.
"In the first leg we proved once again we have guts and character. Just like we did [against Barcelona] last year when we came back from two goals down in the last half-hour to draw.
"This time we went one better. We won the game and this gives us hope and puts a doubt in their minds too.
"But it's only the halfway stage. All that hard work and effort means nothing, absolutely nothing, if we don't finish the job off."
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