Cesc
Fabregas has warned his Chelsea team-mates to not underestimate Barcelona's
ageing midfielder Andres Iniesta.
Fabregas, 30 - who played alongside Iniesta, 33, at Barcelona and for the
Spanish national team - says age does not matter for a player who has always
relied on his intelligence rather than his physicality.
Iniesta is expected to start in Tuesday's Champions League last-16 first leg
at Stamford Bridge because Barcelona's January signing Philippe Coutinho is
cup-tied having already represented Liverpool in the competition.
Fabregas believes Iniesta's quality on the ball is enough for him to
continue playing a the very highest level into his late 30s.
"He's still good; for this type of player age doesn't really matter,"
Fabregas said.
"Once you have a talent, once you have the class that he and so many other
'big' players have, they can play until their late 30s.
"Physically, it's important, obviously because the game nowadays depends a
lot on that. But when you have the quality, when you have the intelligence,
it can sometimes compensate."
Asked if the Barcelona midfielder was his idol growing up, Fabregas replied:
"You're making him very old! He's only three years older than me.
"We played with the Spain under-21s together. We've played together from
when I was 18 years old.
"I never saw him as an 'idol' because we always played together. I saw him
as a team-mate.
"A person obviously that I admire, but in a different way from an idol I
looked up to when I was young."
Fabregas cited Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and former Portugal
winger Luis Figo as his Barcelona footballing heroes growing up.
He continued: "I used to look up to Guardiola because he was playing in my
position; I used to love Luis Figo when he was at Barcelona. These two were
probably the ones I looked up to most when I was little.
"But this generation of Spanish players, and not only Spanish players, in
Barcelona has been fantastic."
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