Fabregas' contretemps with Tomas Repka, the Sparta Prague captain, was the main talking point on Wednesday night. The Arsenal players accused Repka of threatening to kick them out of the competition before the game; the Czech camp countered by suggesting Fabregas got his retaliation in first by putting their hard man out of the game.
Additionally, they said Fabregas had imitated Repka's discomfort before he withdrew prematurely with a knee injury inflicted by the young Arsenal midfielder.
The row went on into the night as Arsenal flew home with a two-goal cushion from the first leg of their Champions League qualifying tie. "I did not [imitate his limp]," Fabregas said. "He started insulting me. How? Words. Czech words. I didn't understand. Maybe Tomas [Rosicky] can translate."
The tense atmosphere had been stoked by Repka suggesting he wanted to hurt the Arsenal players. "I didn't read it," Fabregas said, "but Tomas told me. I would never say things like this. If you play football, it's not to kick somebody, it's because you enjoy it. It's not good for football to say before the game, 'I will kick their players'. It's not nice."
Fabregas' challenge on Repka increased the bad feeling. "I thought I could win the ball," he said. "Maybe I was a bit late. But, you know, he did the same thing before [to Robin van Persie]. But, of course, I am sorry."
The bickering cast a shadow over a resilient Arsenal performance. "We didn't play our greatest game," Fabregas admitted, "but sometimes you need these kind of games. People say we play great and we don't score; in Prague we played not so well and scored two goals."
Fabregas is really the MAN!