“You could set up your own screen and I had Gerrard 17” - Barcelona legend admits he looked up to Liverpool hero and wished to play together
Barcelona legend Cesc Fabregas has named Liverpool hero Steven Gerrard as one of his inspirations. He admitted that he would have liked to play with the Englishman and added that his wallpaper was of the legendary midfielder growing up.
Speaking to the BBC, Fabregas stated Gerrard was stepping into the Liverpool side when he first started watching the Premier League in Spain. He was impressed by the young Englishman and made him his wallpaper despite having Andres Iniesta around him. He said:
“That’s tough, I had great teammates. I’ll pick one that I played with and one I would have liked to play with. Iniesta because he is a player I understood always. I played some of the best football next to him. Another one is Steven Gerrard. He was someone that I looked up to when I was young. I remember the first time we could watch Premier League in Spain, he was very young and he was stepping into the Liverpool side."
"One of the first phones I had when I was young was this Nokia, you could set up your own screen [on it] and I had Gerrard 17 [there] when he was wearing 17 in the beginning. I’ve always said that he is one of the players I would have loved to play with.”
Steven Gerrard used to wear #17 at Liverpool, before getting the iconic #8 jersey. Fabregas has worn #17 once – during the 2019/20 season at AS Monaco.
Cesc Fabregas previously named Liverpool legend as his toughest opponent
Cesc Fabregas has previously spoken about his admiration for Steven Gerrard. In an interview with SportBIBLE, the Barcelona legend stated that the Liverpool hero was his toughest opponent. He said:
"I always felt he had everything in his locker. He could dictate play, he could score goals, do assists, make runs in behind. Offensively he was very strong. You always felt that when you were coming up against him you had to be at the top of your game otherwise you would be in trouble, because he was very consistent. He was always an eight, seven, eight, seven [out of 10]."
Fabregas came up against Steven Gerrard 18 times while playing for club and country. He managed to beat the Englishman eight times, while losing just four games.