Chelsea star Cesc Fabregas 'fails' Spain test as poor play continue against the Netherlands

The Spanish press has singled out Cesc Fabregas after the Chelsea midfielder extended his recent poor form to the national team during manager Vicente del Bosque's side 2-0 defeat against the Netherlands on 31 March.

Fabregas missed the Euro qualifier victory against Ukraine, with Del Bosque deploying Sergio Busquets, Koke, Andres Iniesta and Isco in his midfield for Spain.

The Chelsea star revealed his intention to prove he deserved a starting place in the national team line-up should Del Bosque hand him the opportunity.

"A player always want to play. When the coach gives the line-up, I always believe that I can be there," Fabregas said.

"When I'm not, I think that I can still go in and when that doesn't happen, I just want the next training session to arrive to prove that I can be in the starting line-up."

Del Bosque responded to the Chelsea star's demands by handing him the captaincy of the team, with him playing alongside a number of fringe stars, for the friendly against the Netherlands, deploying him in the middle of the park alongside Santi Cazorla and Mario Suarez.

But according to the Spanish press, the Chelsea star failed the test.

Even though it is true Del Bosque's side had an erratic performance, Spanish newspaper Marca singled out Fabregas as the poorest player alongside Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, giving them four out of 10.

Meanwhile, AS refused to give the Chelsea midfielder a score - meaning he got a zero out of three - in its match report, picking him as the worst player in the game alongside Bayern Munich left-back Juan Bernat and Napoli centre-back Raul Albiol.

Fabregas has been under similar scrutiny in England for his poor performances at Stamford Bridge since the start of 2015.

The Spain international had a wonderful start to life at Chelsea, providing 11 assists in his first 15 Premier League games of the campaign.

But having had a history of fading in the second half of the season during his time at Barcelona, the Spain international has registered just two assist in his last 11 matches – including one to Diego Costa in the game against Hull City.