He was a key figure in Spain's European Championship victories in 2008 and 2012 and their 2010 World Cup triumph, in which he supplied the pass for Andrés Iniesta's winning goal in the final.

[7] It is said that his first coach, Señor Blai, limited Fàbregas' appearances in matches against Barcelona to reduce the risk of him being scouted by the club, though he eventually joined their academy.

[13] As a 16-year-old, Fàbregas did not contemplate breaking into the first team immediately but looked up to senior players like Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva, while concentrating on training and learning the English language.

[26] After The Gunners' move to the Emirates Stadium in summer 2006, Fàbregas was given the number 4 shirt, which had been vacated by Patrick Vieira following his transfer to Juventus the previous year.

Further, as Fàbregas possessed a smaller frame and played with less aggression than Vieira, there were initially doubts over his ability to fill in the void left by the Frenchman.

[17][38] He ended the season with several individual honours, including the Golden Boy award, presented by the Italian paper TuttoSport, based on a poll of leading writers across Europe.

He also scored the only goal of the game on 1 October as Barcelona won away at Celtic in the group stage of the Champions League, heading in Alexis Sánchez's cross in the 73rd minute.

"[91] Fàbregas made his competitive debut for Chelsea on 18 August as the team began their league season away to Burnley; he played the full 90 minutes of a 3–1 victory, providing two assists.

[97] On 10 December, with Chelsea already through to the knockout stage as group winners, Fàbregas scored an eighth-minute penalty to open a 3–1 Champions League victory over Sporting CP.

During the penultimate game of the season, away at The Hawthorns against West Bromwich Albion, Fàbregas was shown the red card and booed off by fans for deliberately kicking the ball at Chris Brunt's head while players were speaking to referee Mike Jones.

[109] On 20 August 2016, Fàbregas once again started on the bench against Watford, entering the match in the second half to replace Nemanja Matić and creating an assist for Diego Costa, who scored the winner in a 2–1 victory.

[110] In the post-match press conference, Fàbregas earned the praise of manager, Conte, for his inspiring performance in the comeback win as well as the attitude he shows during training sessions.

[111] Fàbregas's first two goals of the season came in an EFL Cup tie against Leicester City on 20 September, both coming within two minutes of each other in extra time to win the game 4–2, the victory moving Chelsea on to the Round of 16.

[114] Fàbregas came off the bench against West Bromwich Albion on 11 December 2016 and immediately made an impact on the deadlocked match, finding Diego Costa once again with a long ball that led to the winning goal.

[122] On 5 January 2019, Fàbregas played his final game in English football, a 2–0 home win over Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup.

[140] Fàbregas also became the youngest player in Spanish football history to participate in a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Luis García after 77 minutes in the 4–0 victory against Ukraine on 13 June 2006; he was then 19 years and 41 days old.

[154] In the final against Italy, Fàbregas started and provided the assist to David Silva for the game's opening goal, en route to a 4–0 Spain victory.

The match ended 0–0 after extra time and Spain won 7–6 in the resulting penalty shoot-out,[158] but were eventually defeated 3–0 in the final by hosts and defending champions Brazil.

[165] In his milestone match at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv, he won a first-half penalty when fouled by Oleksandr Kucher, but his spot kick was saved by Andriy Pyatov.

[166] He started all of Spain's matches at the finals, coming as a substitute in each of the three group games and playing the entirety of the defeat by Italy in the Round of 16 which ended their participation.

[citation needed] Fàbregas was not selected for the Spain squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup (his Chelsea colleagues Pedro, Álvaro Morata and Marcos Alonso were also overlooked after the club's disappointing season);[167] he instead joined the BBC as a studio analyst for the tournament.

[172] On 20 December, Como announced the appointment of Osian Roberts as the new caretaker manager until the end of season, while Fàbregas would stay on as an assistant to the first team coaching staff.

[174] After Roberts took Como from 7th to 3rd place, the club managed to win automatic promotion to Serie A, with Fàbregas staying as assistant for the remainder of the season.

At the time, defensive midfielder Vieira served as his role model and mentor,[180] and he styled his game after his childhood hero and compatriot Pep Guardiola, whose shirt number 4 he would inherit in his subsequent move to Barcelona in 2011.

After the 2007–08 season, Fàbregas began maturing as a goalscorer, scoring 11 goals in his first 16 games, prompting Arsene Wenger to compare the Spaniard to Michel Platini.

In Pep Guardiola's 4–3–3 formation, he was suggested to be a good profile fit for the trademark patient, attacking, "tiki-taka" build-up style of play, also associated in the international setup under Luis Aragonés and Vicente del Bosque.

Due to the presence of Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Andrés Iniesta in the three-man midfield, as well as the emerging Thiago, Fàbregas was often employed as a supporting forward, or even out of position as a winger under Guardiola.

[188] Fàbregas was used in deeper roles on occasion, as an attacking, deep-lying or central playmaking midfielder, in particular under Guardiola's immediate successors, Tito Vilanova and Gerardo Martino.

[192][193] In this deeper creative position,[194] although playing in a significantly less dynamic role than at Arsenal or Barcelona, he still excelled in Mourinho's system,[195] where he proved to be an effective assist-provider.

[196][197] In his penultimate seasons at Chelsea, Fàbregas was given a more limited role - often coming off the bench in efforts to wrangle technical control of the midfield or to provide further creative pressure against low blocks.