Cesc Fabregas played alongside some incredible talent throughout his football career and recently identified the four best players he shared the field with, excluding Lionel Messi.
Fabregas had a distinguished career, featuring for clubs like Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea, Monaco, and Como, before retiring in 2023.
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At Arsenal, he secured an FA Cup, while his return to Barcelona brought him a La Liga title, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, Copa del Rey, and Supercopa de España. Moving to Chelsea, he added two Premier League titles, the Europa League, FA Cup, and League Cup to his trophy cabinet.
On the international front, Fabregas was a key figure in Spain’s “golden generation,” winning the 2010 World Cup and two European Championships.
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Following his retirement, Fabregas transitioned into coaching and is currently managing Italian club Como after their promotion to Serie A.
During his time at Barcelona, Fabregas had the opportunity to play with Lionel Messi, whom most of his teammates would likely agree was the best player they played with.
However, in a recent interview on The Rest of Football podcast with Gary Lineker, Fabregas was asked to name the best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, and forward he played with, excluding Messi.
Fabregas chose Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas, Barcelona’s Carles Puyol and Andres Iniesta, and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry as the four best players he shared the pitch with.
Explaining the decisions, Fabregas said: “I am going to go for Iker Casillas for the moments that we shared (with the national team). I’m going to go for Puyol because he was not the greatest football player but I miss players that love defending and they would go over the line to save a goal and they are proper warriors.
“In terms of defending, being a warrior, a proper captain, proper team player, I’ll pick Carles Puyol. I am going to go with Iniesta. I love Xavi, I love David Silva, Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva, I had some great company in there but for me Iniesta is the most complete.”
The Spaniard added: “Passing the ball however you want and wherever you want, he will make it always good. He will make it look easy. He’ll be surrounded by seven players and he’ll not feel the pressure.
“He’ll always find the right solution. In the later stages of his career, he improved by scoring goals, he was attacking more the space. I always felt amazing with him. He was not the greatest in the final pass but he could see a final pass and individually in terms of dribbling and keeping the ball, I don’t think I’ve seen a better player in midfield than him.
“I’m going to go with Thierry Henry. He was so dominant. When he was on his day and even when he was not sometimes, he was unstoppable. Some defenders, and big defenders and great defenders, they didn’t really know what to do with him.”
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