Raphinha scores hat-trick in 100th appearance for Barca
Brazilian winger Raphinha celebrated his 100th appearance for FC Barcelona with a hat-trick goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League encounter on Wednesday night.
Chelsea host Barcelona in what promises to be an epic UEFA Champions League round-of-16 clash at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday and the tie will be extra special for Blues midfielder Cesc Fabregas as he will be facing off against his former club.
A product of Barcelona’s famed La Masia Academy, Fabregas spent three trophy-laden seasons with La Blaugrana before joining Chelsea in 2014.
“It’s a big game for everyone I think, for the whole club, and I think for English football,” Fabregas was quoted as saying by the club website.
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“It’s always great to welcome these fantastic teams in European football. It’s a massive night for the players, for the club and for English football in general. Hopefully we can do well and give a good image of what we can do and give a good performance.”
Born in Catalonia, the 30-year-old Fabregas insisted that as a professional, he wouldn’t let emotion affect his game against as he added, “Of course, it’s my hometown, it’s the club I supported for all my life, but once you step on the pitch it just goes away. I did it before with Arsenal. I don’t try, it just happens naturally. You want to do well for your club and that’s it”.
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Some of Fabregas’ closest friends include Barcelona superstars Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, but the central midfielder admitted he had not spoken to them in a while as he revealed, “I have big friends, friends that I played with since I was 13 years old. I speak to some of them nearly every day, even when I don’t play against them, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be about football. Probably now the contact is a bit less, probably unconsciously because of the game coming up”.
“We are old friends but when we are on the pitch they will try to beat me and I will try to beat them. For me, friendship is a fantastic thing but in football, when you play against each other, it clearly changes,” Fabregas added.
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