- Champions League
Fabregas tells Mourinho to 'shut up'
Cesc Fabregas has hit back at Jose Mourinho after the Chelsea manager said Manchester City would be facing "the worst Barcelona of many, many years" in the Champions League.
Former Real Madrid boss Mourinho claimed City would have a chance of knocking Barcelona out of the Champions League because the Catalans are well below their peak.
However, Barca won the first leg of their last-16 tie with City 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night, a result which makes them clear favourites to progress and, according to Fabregas, proved a point.
"Some people were talking a bit too much before the game and now they have to shut up for a few days," Fabregas told ITV.
"We had a great result tonight. The fans put so much pressure on and that's what makes this so win special. We had a point to prove, and we did it very well.
Mourinho does not have the best of relationships with Barcelona despite having worked under the late Sir Bobby Robson there.
He has been dubbed "the translator" by fans of the Catalan club and has been involved in a series of spats which have involved them, both while at Chelsea and Madrid.
However, despite proving a point against City, Barca manager Tata Martino refused to get carried away with the result after Lionel Messi and Daniel Alves scored important away goals.
"Every game is a chance to prove ourselves," he said. "We cannot forget we lost against Valencia ten days ago but we are in a good moment right now.
"I am not taking it for granted but it is true we have done a good game away and we just have to repeat the same performance."
City have won all three of their away games so far in this season's Champions League, and Martino is wary of them after they defeated Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena.
Martino said: "We are going to keep on playing with the same intensity and the same commitment. We have a very tough rival at the same level. The only difference is we won an away game but we cannot forget that City lost at home to Munich and then won an away game."