LONDON -- Cesc Fabregas turned away, deadpan stare fixed firmly on the ground, and waited to be absorbed in a swarm of Chelsea teammates. If his first career goal against Arsenal -- a lob into an empty net to put the Blues 3-0 up, created by a rare moment of Petr Cech madness -- had sparked any emotion, it went undetected, but the same could not be said for the ashen-faced Gunners fans at Stamford Bridge. Having jeered Fabregas' introduction from the substitutes' bench barely a minute earlier, they looked on in stony silence, while those running Arsenal's official Twitter account couldn't even bear to name the scorer.
A similar expression could be seen on Fabregas' face on Wednesday as he strode straight through a post-training mixed zone at Cobham, in no mood to indulge the questions he knew would come from journalists eager to hear his thoughts on that goal in February and facing his former club again in an FA Cup final -- the same stage that yielded his only significant trophy in nine years at Arsenal.
Fabregas surpassed that tally in his first season at Chelsea, but the price of success has been steep: resentment and rejection by the club that formed him, fueled by anger at his betrayal of the "once a Gunner, always a Gunner" pledge he made when leaving for Barcelona in August 2011. Moving to Stamford Bridge also has made Fabregas a convenient lightning rod for Arsenal supporters venting broader frustrations at Arsene Wenger, and the persistent failings that have led a series of star players to conclude their ambitions could only be met elsewhere.
Things could have been very different. Barcelona brought their prodigal son back to Camp Nou with plans to mould him into the long-term successor to Xavi Hernandez, and Pep Guardiola only realised once he saw his new signing up close that taking the Premier League out of the player was going to be more difficult than taking the player out of the Premier League. Almost a decade at Arsenal had conditioned Fabregas to thrive amid chaos rather than control, and while the "anarchy" he brought to the European champions' intricate tactical system was initially praised as virtue, it eventually saw him marginalised.
When Chelsea made their approach in the summer of 2014, Wenger had an opportunity to deny the move that could well define Fabregas' career. Instead, having convinced himself that Mesut Ozil's presence made the return of his former creator-in-chief unnecessary, the Frenchman waived the first option that Arsenal had done so well to negotiate as part of the original deal with Barcelona. In the three Premier League seasons since, Fabregas has contributed 37 assists to Ozil's 33, as well as providing much of the imagination in a team that has won three major trophies and is favoured to claim a fourth at Wembley on Saturday.
In a bizarre and astonishingly cutting statement on their website the day Fabregas left for Stamford Bridge, Barcelona attempted to justify the sale by trashing their former playmaker's production in key moments: "From being someone who joined in with the attack, supplying and scoring goals, the magic tended to fade later on in each season."
At Chelsea, however, he found a club much more receptive to his rare brand of wizardry. Jose Mourinho claimed Fabregas had added a "new dimension" to his team, while supporters came up with a chant about his "magic hat" that has become a match day favourite.
But it hasn't all been sunshine and roses. During the dark final weeks of Premier League disarray and "palpable discord" under Mourinho last season, Fabregas' standing was damaged by reports claiming he was one of the dressing room "rats" who had worked to bring down Chelsea's greatest-ever manager. A series of impassioned denials and impressive performances, however, quickly healed the wounds. Ask around at Stamford Bridge these days and the consensus view of the man who once captained Arsenal is "Proper Chels."
This season the challenge for Fabregas has been Conte, who arrived at Stamford Bridge intending to gear his team around a powerful and dynamic midfield. Limited to just 13 Premier League starts -- the lowest total of his career -- the Spaniard has reinvented himself as arguably the most devastating impact substitute in world football. He still has more assists (12) than any other Chelsea player, while his attitude and adaptability has won the respect of the manager.
"If Cesc doesn't run 100 metres in 10 seconds, I can allow him this because he's a genius with the ball," Conte said in February. "His velocity is in his mind."
Now 30, Fabregas is a bundle of contradictions: the La Masia graduate unappreciated in Catalonia, the Arsenal golden boy reviled at the Emirates, the Chelsea match-winner who isn't guaranteed his starting spot. Yet the list of trophies won is formidable and if another arrives at the expense of his former club on Saturday, the magic man of Stamford Bridge won't have to crack a smile to feel the love from one half of Wembley.