Fabregas is the real deal

Arsenal midfielder savours his graduation night - and even wins over Bernabeu

The fans responded as if the 18-year-old was one of their own. Yes, Fabregas is Spanish, but not only had he been the most devastating player, even though it was Thierry Henry who took the goal and the headlines, in the humiliating dominance of the home side, but he is a young Catalan as well. And the significance of that was not lost on Fabregas either. The Bernabeu is the heart of the enemy camp for him and, wreathed in smiles, he nodded before adding, "but, don't forget, I'm an Arsenal player".

When Arsène Wenger swiped Jose Antonio Reyes - who even after Tuesday's match was declaring: "There is nobody who would not like to wear the Real Madrid shirt one day. But I don't know when that day will be" - away from Spanish football three Januarys ago there were protests in the streets of Seville and tears in the young winger's eyes.

The nation is waking up to the fact that the Frenchman perpetrated an even greater heist in acquiring Fabregas as a 16-year-old with a mullet haircut from Barcelona the summer before, even if it did also cause an outcry at the time, although mainly because of his youth. Fabregas had just been named the best player at the Under-17 World Cup in Finland and suddenly he was whisked away to Highbury.

Last week represented his "first game as a professional in Spain" and, because it was in the Champions' League, it was "all the more important". Fabregas was aware of the significance. "That's true," he said. "So it was very special for me. Coming back to Spain is fantastic because my family can come and watch as well. That is brilliant. But I'm also really proud of the team."

At senior international level, he is behind Xabi Alonso and Xavi as a midfield creator. Yet he may be about to gatecrash the real thing. Is a World Cup place too soon? After his call-up by the watching Spanish coach Luis Aragones for this week's friendly against Ivory Coast, even a sceptical Fabregas may begin to believe. But then he has already taken so much in his stride. When he was just 16 years and 177 days, he became the youngest senior player in Arsenal's history, and then, 35 days later, the club's youngestgoalscorer.

But it is as provider, prompter, that he weaves his art. That was recognised by David Beckham. "If you have players like Reyes and Fabregas and Thierry, of course you are going to create chances, as they are great players," the England captain, and one of the few Real players to show any semblance of a threat, said after the defeat.

At Barcelona, where that other 18-year-old Academy prodigy Lionel Messi remains a friend, they urged Fabregas to model himself on Pep Guardiola - known as "the quarterback" - and it was Fabregas who was threading the passes for Henry against Real. "That is what we try to do every game," he said. "Thierry is a very important part of our team and he showed it with a fantastic goal."

The victory, especially if it can be followed up with a passage into the last eight, may go some way to persuading Henry to stay. "What can you say?" Fabregas added. "We play for the team and for him. He's just unbelievable; we would miss him, of course."

The young Spaniard is in the vanguard of Arsenal's cadre of promising stars but knows that the loss of Henry, so soon after Patrick Vieira's departure, would be some blow. "It's always difficult when Patrick Vieira, a world- class player, goes, and we are a really young side, but what can I say about the performance?" he said about his side's tribulations this season and their Tuesday triumph. "We were just brilliant and we are so proud of ourselves. Everyone was 100 per cent concentrated."

That has not always been the case recently and Fabregas revealed that Wenger, too, had made the point that "we can beat anyone if we are at 100 per cent". It is a difficult mark to maintain, especially for a team with so many inexperienced players.

"When you are in a big team it's very difficult to be 100 per cent, on the top all the time like Arsenal have been for the last 10 years," Fabregas said. "Real have been three years without winning anything. Barcelona went four or five years. It comes now at a good time for us, this game."

If anything there was a disappointment that Arsenal had not made more of their undoubted superiority but, while acknowledging that, Fabregas, not unreasonably, added: "You cannot really be disappointed when you win 1-0 at the Bernabeu in the Champions' League. But of course we should have scored more goals."

Despite the victory, the first by an English club side away to Real, and the clean sheet, it is still a slender advantage. "It's a very important time for Arsenal and this is just the first half," Fabregas said. "The second half is at Highbury. And the more goals you score, the better."

There was a crucial difference to the contests Arsenal have faced in the Premiership. Against Real it appeared that they held the physical edge. "You think it was easy? It was not easy," Fabregas said. "We had to work really hard and closed them down well and I think that was the key."

However, he added of the challenge: "That's true, it's not as physical. Maybe it was one of the things we can take from the game. But against Real, whether it is physical or technical they are just world-class players."

That realisation made the victory all the greater. "I just think that we showed everyone what kind of team we are," Fabregas said. And, more excitingly, what kind of team they can become.