Fabregas on Diaw's Injury Before AFCON: "I Shouldn't Have Played Him, But Since We Pay His Salary, We At Least Took the Risk!"

Cesc Fabregas, the Spanish coach of Italian club Como, made "strange" and "controversial" statements following his team's 0-1 loss to Roma yesterday, Monday, in the closing match of Serie A's 15th round.

Last Saturday, Fabregas had criticized the call-up of 20-year-old Alassane Diaw by the Senegalese national team for the Africa Cup of Nations "Morocco 2025". He insisted on playing Diaw in yesterday's match before allowing him to travel to join his national squad, but the player suffered an injury and left the field in the 38th minute.

The coach admitted that Diaw should not have participated in yesterday's match at all, yet he started him, asserting that the club pays his salary and therefore has the right to play him.

Fabregas told Sky Sport: "Diaw got injured in the thigh during a counter-attack. I am a strong supporter of national teams, and I hope all my players go to represent their countries."

He then revealed the reason for his frustration regarding Diaw's call-up for the Africa Cup of Nations, noting that the problem has persisted since last November's training camp. "I asked (the Senegal national team coach), if there was any logic, not to call him up (in November), because in eight months he had only played three incomplete matches, then one full match against Napoli. After that, he joined the national team, where he suffered an injury and was out for a month, before returning now."

He added: "I feel sorry because, in truth, he wasn't supposed to play today. But I said: tomorrow he will join the national team and will be absent for five weeks, and we are the ones paying his salary. He has been out for eight months, and he is a very important player for us, so we at least took the risk."