Cesc Fabregas got to share the pitch with Lionel Messi for three years upon his return to Barcelona from Arsenal in 2011.
In tandem, Fabregas and Messi won La Liga in 2013, the Copa Del Rey in 2012, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2011 and the Supercopa De España in 2011 and 2013.
Previously, the Como boss told Sky Sports that the Argentine is the greatest player in the history of the game.
In March, Erling Haaland hailed Messi as the best player to have ever graced the game as well.
Manchester City were close to signing Messi in 2020 — a potential move that Pep Guardiola reportedly had a face-to-face conversation with.
However, the now-Inter Miami forward decided to sign for Paris Saint-Germain instead as his last club in Europe.
Fabregas makes Messi claim about Erling Haaland
With the blockbuster start Haaland has made to the 2024/2025 season, he has been likened to the World Cup winner in some respects.
For instance, a statistic compared Haaland and Messi’s respective goal records by the time they were both 24 and the former came out on top.
In terms of his staggering goalscoring numbers, Pep Guardiola likened Haaland to Messi as well as Cristiano Ronaldo recently.
The £51 million man still has plenty to achieve in his career, both individually and as a part of a team to be considered at the same level as the 37-year-old.
However, Mark Chapman asked Cesc Fabregas and Nedum Onuoha on the Planet Premier League podcast where the 24-year-old already has an edge over his opponents due to the “aura” he exudes.
Fabregas claimed that at Barcelona, he always had the sense that Messi would be able to turn any game on its head and he believes Manchester City’s players feel the same way about Haaland.
The Spaniard said: “Well, I can tell you that before games, there are only two players that I really felt that going into games, okay, these guys are going to make a difference or are going to change the game or something is going to happen, even if we are losing or struggling during the game.”
“One is Thierry Henry and the second one is Lionel Messi. When you are in that tunnel with this type of player, I’m sure Real Madrid players, they felt the same with Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester City with [Sergio] Aguero, Man United with [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy, I don’t know.”
“But in my career, the feeling I had when I had these two players with me in the tunnel, I knew that 90 per cent of the games, they were going to make something special [happen] that will make us win the game.”
Fabregas concluded: “But to have this feeling, this sensation as a big club, it’s really important and I’m sure Manchester City players will have this feeling when they see Haaland stepping into that field with them.”
Man City players must always back Erling Haaland to win them games
As Cesc Fabregas explained, it is easy to back players of the ilk of Messi and Haaland to emerge as match-winners due to their ability to conjure something out of nothing.
The Norwegian international has come up clutch for City time and again; such as when he scored the opener against Bayern Munich in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final in 2023 or his acrobatic winner against Borussia Dortmund in the same competition in the previous year.
Haaland is the type of forward who can have a quiet game and at the drop of a hat, he could produce a moment that catches the opposition out and lead his team to victory.
As a result, it is always unwise for any team to believe that even if they have managed to tame either the two-time Premier League winner or Messi, they have no reason to worry.
If Manchester City’s players do feel how Cesc Fabregas felt about the three-time Champions League winner, they already have a mental edge over their opponents.
However, based on the type of player Haaland has been throughout his career, it would be no surprise if his teammates at RB Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund viewed him in such a light as well.
