Cesc Fàbregas: "Fourth place is not yet secure"

In their first match against FC Metz over the span of four days, Cesc Fàbregas brought all his experience to the Rouge et Blanc midfield. After opening the scoring from a penalty kick at the start of the second half, the Spanish world champion guided his team to a deserved win (4-0). It was a comfortable win in the end, which once again put pressure on the teams playing for Europe both above and below the Monegasques. At the end of this performance, the Spaniard spoke to the press.

Hello Cesc. What can stop the team now?

In football, things can go very quickly. We have to start our matches in the best possible way. It’s 50/50 every match. Often the best prepared team wins the match. It’s never easy to come back to your club after the international break. The proof was there today with Chelsea who lost, 5-2 against West Bromwich at the same time as us. It’s a great victory today.

Are AS Monaco a title contender now?

We are just thinking of the Club’s goal: to be in the European places come the end of the season. Fourth place is not secure yet, we’ll see what we can do over the next few weeks. It’s hard to think of finishing higher right now. There is an important match in the Coupe de France coming on Tuesday.

You are provisionally third right now, do you want to stay on that podium?

Above all, we must do everything to win all our matches. We are AS Monaco, we have to give everything every minute we are on the pitch. The first half was not easy, we faced a compact low block. We have to train hard every day to finish this season well.

It was your first start since November in Ligue 1.

Things are like that, I can’t play every game. I know I’m not going to play all the time, but it’s a great personal point of pride to have that role for the younger players. There are a lot of very talented players on this team.

Eliot Matazo had a good match, at only 19 years old…

I’m very happy for him, he works a lot. He doesn’t get a lot of playing time but he showed all his qualities today. He always wants to do more. I am very happy with his match.

What was your role today?

I had to break the lines to play a final ball. It was not easy because Metz played with man marking. They were very strong physically during the first half, but we made the difference in the second thanks to our tactical approach.

Stevan Jovetić started up top in place of Wissam Ben Yedder…

It’s a tactical decision by the coach. Wissam is the captain of this team, Jove’ has worked very hard to get back to his best. He scored three goals for his conuntry during the international break. It’s very important for us to have three world-class goal scorers. They can make a big difference.

Are you going to support Lille or Paris?

I’m going to watch the game because I’m a football fan first and foremost. I hope it will be a good match. A draw would not be too bad for us.