Fabregas: Barca are beatable

Fabregas: Barca are beatable

Published Feb. 14, 2011 7:15 a.m. ET

The Gunners saw their own continental adventure brought to an abrupt halt last season by the Catalan giants. Defeat at the quarter-final stage saw Barca at their awesome best, with Lionel Messi underlining his standing as the best player on the planet. Arsenal, though, are considered to be the side best suited to containing and ultimately breaking Barca, as their footballling philosophy is very similar. Spain international Fabregas believes the Gunners can dump his countrymen out of Europe, but has warned his team-mates that they cannot afford to show Pep Guardiola's side as much respect as they did 12 months ago. The Arsenal skipper said in The Sun: "We don't have to worry too much about them - we just have to play with no fear and play our game. "We respected them too much last season, in the first half especially. "We know they are the best team in the world and it is a big task for us. We have a young team but one with a lot of quality and energy." The two sides played out a 2-2 draw at Emirates Stadium last season, before Barca ran riot at Camp Nou to seal a 4-1 win. Rivalries will be rekindled in midweek when Barca return to north London for the first leg of their last 16 showdown, but Fabregas claims the Gunners must treat the tie as a one off and not allow their focus to wander back to last season. He insisted: "It is difficult to learn from last year. "They are such a good team. Even if you know everything, they have so many quality players that can make the difference."

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