Cesc Fabregas, head coach of Como, spoke to the media following his team’s impressive 2–0 victory over Juventus, addressing both the performance and the recent comments made by Igor Tudor. The Spanish manager, while respectful, offered a pointed response to his counterpart’s remarks.
“In football, there are no excuses”
“In football, there are no alibis — I don’t like making excuses,” Fabregas said. “Even if we played with our youth team, we would still need to keep our identity. You can win or lose, but you must stay true to who you are. We’re talking about a team that will go to the Bernabéu on Wednesday to play in the Champions League.
“Mister Tudor leads a great club with a huge history. He said I take all the players, but maybe they didn’t explain things to him properly. He’s a great coach working with top players. At Juventus, he must always win — we live in a different reality.”
“Wenger still inspires me today”
Fabregas also spoke warmly about his former mentor Arsène Wenger, who attended the match. “Absolutely, yes. A few weeks ago, he called to say he might come. It’s a pity he didn’t see me on the bench, but we spoke after the game. It’s a real honour — he believed in me when I was 16, and that motivation still drives me today.”
“We’re building a way of playing”
Reflecting on Como’s performance, Fabregas praised both the result and the attitude of his players. “There’s great satisfaction, not only for the result — which is important but not everything,” he explained. “We have to keep building our idea of football and working on courage; the results come as a consequence. Our principle remains the same even when players are missing.
“Today we had no wingers, so we had to adapt and prepare differently. But those who came in responded brilliantly. Alberto Moreno hadn’t played for six matches, Diego Carlos gave us great solidity, and Perrone showed his intelligence. We prepared the match very well tactically and stayed compact.
“In the first half, we lacked a bit of precision in the final pass to finish the game off — that’s something we’re working on. We knew Juventus often try to create overloads with triangles on the flanks, and we couldn’t allow that. Yildiz, Conceição and David are extraordinary players; even when tightly marked, they can always invent something. We want to bring that same winning mentality onto the pitch.”
