Hleb denies criticism

Hleb moved to set the record straight over a newspaper article which quoted him lambasting Fabregas, as well as Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

"I don't know where they got all this from," Hleb told Spain's Sport newspaper. "There's a certain type of English press that is worth nothing, that only invents things and this is one of those cases.

He added: "They did it with Cesc and Arsene, inventing things that I didn't say or taking my words and using them out of context.

"I'll explain what happened in both cases so that it is clear for once.

"With Wenger they said we argued and that I was leaving Arsenal because I thought that the team would never win anything with him as a manager and that is absolutely false.

"Arsene knows it because the first thing he told me when I signed for Arsenal was that he didn't pay attention to what the press wrote, that he never read it.

"Arsene is like a father to me and the coach that gave me the opportunity to play for Arsenal and then to sign for Barcelona, I owe him everything."

Hleb continued: "Cesc is my best friend at Arsenal and he knows that everything I have to say I'll say it to his face as I have always done.

"I only said that when Cesc had the ball you didn't know where he was going to put it because he is so good that he can pass it to the left or to the right and the English journalists changed that sentence into a criticism of his way of playing."