Defence absolutely Fabregas - Cesc
6 April 2006Teamtalk
Wednesday's shut-out in Turin saw the Gunners make it eight in a row in Europe's top club competition.
Arsene Wenger's side have not conceded a goal in the Champions League since Markus Rosenberg netted for Ajax in Arsenal's 2-1 win in the Amsterdam ArenA on September 27.
Fabregas, undoubtedly the hero of the quarter-final first leg triumph over Juve at Highbury, said of the defence: "We are strong. We have shown everyone that defensively, even if there are some players that are young and not in their (usual) position, they played fantastically once again.
"They deserve all the credit in the world because it is not easy to play long balls against a team like Juventus in (the Stadio) delle Alpi and they have shown great character. I think they deserve a 10 today.
"We had six or seven chances, but of course they had their chances as well. But we knew how to play them and I think we deserved the qualification."
Speaking about the youthful look to the Gunners line-up, the Spaniard added: "It is difficult for us when you start playing all together in the team in the same year. But we are playing with the right attitude and the right character and it is excellent."
Asked whether semi-final opponents Villarreal were beatable, he told Sky Sports: "Everyone is beatable. They (Villarreal) have to think the same thing about us, but we will try to play with the same attitude, try to play the ball around - that is what we like - and then we will see what happens.
"But I think the game will be a difficult game, they play in a small stadium. But first we have to be focused on Manchester United on Sunday, that will be a very tough game.
"At the moment we are very happy with the way we are playing and we are not scared about anything. We just want to keep going and keep winning things."
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