Wenger denies Fabregas broke leg before Barca

Arsene Wenger is adamant Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas was not sent out to face Barcelona with a broken leg.

Fabregas will miss the rest of the season after scans showed he has a hairline fracture of his right fibula, but reports in England on Friday suggested the Spain midfielder may already have had the injury before Wednesday’s match.

The 22-year-old needed a late fitness test to prove his fitness for the 2-2 Champions League quarter-final draw after sustaining heavy bruising on his leg and knee following a fierce challenge from Birmingham’s Craig Gardner last weekend.

Fabregas limped away from the Emirates Stadium on crutches with an injury in exactly the same place after a collision with Carles Puyol towards the end of the European tie.

But Wenger stressed there had been no risks taken with Fabregas and the Gunners boss insisted his star player suffered the injury which will keep him out for six weeks in the clash with Puyol.

“There were some suggestions that he played with a broken bone – that is not true,” Wenger said on Friday.

“We had two independent doctors with X-rays who clarified the bone was perfectly okay, a bruised bone, but not broken before the Barcelona game.

“I am 100 percent confident and I checked that this morning with our medical team. There is no doubt about that. Medically we were clear.

“Cesc had a test on the morning of the game, he had another test on the warm-up.

“It was in my mind if he had said, ‘No I feel pain’, I would never force anybody to play.

“I asked him after the warm-up if he felt perfectly all right and he said yes. He had not a broken bone before the game started.”

Wenger claims Arsenal have pinpointed the moment at which Fabregas suffered the break.

He explained: “We believe that it is from the kick of Puyol on the penalty when he kicks him through the legs.

“It is on exactly the place where he got kicked against Birmingham.

“He got the crack on his bone, that means he already had a bruised bone before the game and the kick on it made it split.”

Arsenal also lost both defender William Gallas and forward Andrey Arshavin to injury in the first half against Barcelona.

While Arshavin should be back from a calf problem by the end of the month, the prognosis on Gallas is less positive and he is set to miss the rest of the season.