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SPANISH AYES: Sergio Ramos on top of the ple, as Spain celebrated their entry into a final for the first time in 24 years. Cesc Fabregas (left) orchestrated their semi-final win over Russia. -- PHOTOS: AFP, AP
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AT ERNST HAPPEL STADIUM (VIENNA) - I THOUGHT I saw a multi-millionaire modern-day footballer playing the game as if it was all joy and no great pressure on Thursday night.
And, when I woke up, it was no dream.
There, in front of the mass media, Cesc Fabregas was telling it as it was.
'The game was there to be enjoyed,' he said. 'Just like the kids on the park. When things go like this, everything is easy.'
He was speaking, as you would have guessed, after joining in as a substitute to help turn a cautious stalemate into a joyous rout of the Russians.
I use the same word - joy - that the Spanish playmaker used for good reason.
The night at Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium was absolutely foul. Bolts of lightning constantly illuminated the bleak clouds. And rain did not just fall down; it lashed the city and the stadium.
Yet, in that downpour, we saw Arsenal's Fabregas performing like a man-child.
He created two goals in a potentially stagnant encounter.
The first was exquisite. Sergio Ramos surged down the right and, spotting Fabregas on the edge of the penalty box, quickly passed the ball to the playmaker.
F�bregas has such gifted composure and such an eye for all the options around him that he knew exactly where his centre-forward was.
Quicker than you could say Daniel G�iza, the midfielder hit the ball so sweetly that it rose gently over the line of red-shirted Russian defenders.
It was measured for the chest of Guiza. And the Real Mallorca striker controlled the ball on his chest, let it roll down to his right foot and guided it with a flick of his boot past the 'keeper.
Masterful in every aspect. So was goal No 3, which came in the 82nd minute.
F�bregas was once more the creator. His perfectly-weighted pass prompted David Silva, the receiver, to cushion the ball with his right foot and strike it with his left.
It was 3-0, and goodnight Russia.
Most of us cannot conjure up passes as deftly and decisively done by Fabregas.
But we could share the moments of joy because, drenched as we were, they were unmistakably simple, yet brilliant.
And Fabregas did not run with his fist pumping the air and rush over and kiss his fellow men.
He skipped like a lamb of the spring. Or like a boy in the park.
I have seen Fabregas grow from a 16-year-old debutant in the English Premier League.
I once discussed with his mentor Arsene Wenger about pitting Fabregas against Patrick Vieira, after Arsenal's once-formidable midfield enforcer returned to Highbury as a player with Juventus.
'No,' said Wenger. 'Because inside, Cesc is a killer.'
A killer or a boy playing for pure joy in a Champions League semi-final - which is the real Fabregas?
'I can, you know, be both,' Monsieur Wenger would say.
However, it is not Wenger but Luis Aragones, the gruff, old coach of Spain, who decides who and when anyone gets a Spanish shirt.
Aragones, due to depart Spain for a two-year contract to coach Fenerbahce in Istanbul, is himself a bit of a learner.
Seventy next month, he is a tracksuit manager willing to learn new things every day.
He learnt, almost by default, that Fabregas and Xavi Hernandez can be playmakers in the same side.
Till Thursday, Aragones had preferred Hernandez for the first hour, and Fabregas as his replacement about an hour into a game.
But something happened to change the veteran coach's mind on Thursday. He lost David Villa, one of his two strikers, after half an hour through injury.
Instead of putting on Guiza to run alongside Fernando Torres and keep the shape of 4-4-2, the coach trusted Fabregas and Xavi to share the creative role.
His 4-5-1 succeeded and, even though Torres has not looked like the Liverpool star who cannot be stopped, Aragones suggested that he might have stumbled upon the line-up for the final.
'I always like two strikers,' he said, 'but we seemed to play better with one.'
The lone front-runner, Torres, was later replaced by Guiza. But it is likely Spain will line up with Torres and Fabregas in the final.
A picture that told 10,000 words against Russia was the uninhibited way in which Fabregas, the killer, accepts whatever role Aragones gives him.
The choice of Fabregas to take the crucial fifth penalty against Italy in the previous game showed remarkable trust and confidence between coach and player . It was the first time in his career that Fabregas took a penalty.
He scored. He is a killer, you know. The king and queen of Spain then waited to congratulate him.
stsports@sph.com.sg
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