Fabulous Fabregas dazzles on début

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Cesc Fabregas' majestic performance for Chelsea in Monday's defeat of Burnley has earned the Spaniard rave reviews amongst the British media.

The Spaniard - a big-money acquisition from Barcelona this summer - was instrumental as Chelsea overcame an early set-back to defeat the Clarets 3-1.

Fabregas was heavily involved in the build-up to the equaliser, netted by fellow débutante Diego Costa, and then supplied two assists as Andre Schurrle and Branislav Ivanovic completed a convincing win on opening weekend.

But it was one pass in particular which left the capacity crowd at Turf Moor standing speechless with admiration - the Spaniard's exquisite through-ball for Schurrle's 21st-minute goal.

At the end of a breathtaking passage of play, Fabregas capped off what will surely be considered to be amongst the team goals of the season with the twenty-fifth and final pass before Schurrle coolly slotted home.

The ball was worked across the pitch quite magnificently, with Eden Hazard's mazy run opening up space for Branislav Ivanovic out on the right.

The Serbian defender then showed impressive vision to pick out the late run of Fabregas at the edge of the box - but what the Spaniard did next was simply sublime.

A lesser player would have taken a touch and lashed goalwards. On a wet and windy evening, the ball might even have skipped up off the greasy surface and beaten Tom Heaton - but instead Fabregas played a glorious, perfectly-weighted through-ball to Schurrle, who finished with aplomb.

It was the sort of delicate touch you would expect from a player of Fabregas' technical ability, but the audacity for a player on début to try such a pass speaks volumes of the ex-Barcelona man's confidence.

In the Monday evening wet, it would have been easy for the ball to have skipped off in any direction, but Schurrle didn't even need to break stride before finishing, such was the quality of the pass. For Fabregas to possess the awareness to see Schurrle's run was one thing, but to be able to touch the ball, first time, into the German's path was another matter entirely.

Here are just a view highlights from our new maestro's magnificent maiden Chelsea match:

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