Cesc Fabregas rubbed shoulders with quite the array of talent during his time in football and has now named the four best players he shared the pitch with who were not Lionel Messi.
Fabregas played for Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea, Monaco and Como during a playing career which came to a close in 2023.
The midfielder won the FA Cup at Arsenal before heading back to hometown club Barcelona, which yielded the La Liga title, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana.
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A move to Chelsea saw Fabregas win two Premier League titles, the Europa League, the FA Cup and the League Cup.
On the international stage, Fabregas won the 2010 World Cup and two European Championships for Spain in a golden era of success for La Roja.
Fabregas is now a coach and in charge of Italian side Como following their promotion to Serie A.
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During his playing career, following his return to Barcelona, Fabregas played in the same team as Messi.
He is a player most, if not all, of those who shared a dressing room with would say is the best they played with.
But on a recent episode of The Rest of Football, Gary Lineker asked Fabregas to name the best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward who was not Messi that he played with during his career.
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Fabregas named Real Madrid's Iker Casillas, Barcelona duo Carles Puyol and Andres Iniesta, plus Arsenal legend Thierry Henry as the best four players he played alongside in his career who were not Messi.
Explaining the difficult 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 continued: "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.
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"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."
Topics: Andres Iniesta, Arsenal, Barcelona, Carles Puyol, Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea, Iker Casillas, Lionel Messi, Spain, Thierry Henry, Football
John McDougall