Fabregas admits rejecting Capello advice: It only affirmed my playing approach

Cesc had played for Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger during his playing career. But he admits advice from former AC Milan and Juventus coach Capello motivared him to stick with his approach.

He recalled to ll Corriere dello Sport: "There are many ways of playing football and you can't exclude one.

"(Diego) Simeone wins in his own way, Guardiola in his, as well as José and (Antonio) Conte. They are all different styles, but it's real football.

"It's important to believe in what you do. I could easily tell my guys, let's go play long balls and win the second ball. But I wouldn't know how to coach the team, in the sense that I don't believe in that football, I couldn't send the right message to the player."

We have no playmaker

Cesc also said, "The intelligent player looks you in the face, analyses you. If he's not sure of what he's doing, it's up to me to give him the right input and convince him. I adapt to what we have and then try to find all the solutions to go and win.

"However, it's true that we're playing practically 70% of the season with (Lucas) Da Cunha, (Maxi) Perrone and now (Maxence) Caqueret in midfield who are outside, number 10, number 8, there is no playmaker like Rodri from Manchester City, or (Leandro) Paredes, one who is more physical and positional.

"I'll tell you an anecdote. After winning Serie B I found myself having dinner in Trento with (Fabio) Pecchia and Capello. Fabio told me: 'Cesc, now you can't play like that anymore, now you have to defend yourself more'. He insisted on defense, defense, defense.

"That night I went to sleep more convinced than ever that I would follow my philosophy."