Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas admits regrets over his stoush with Manchester City boss Mark Hughes.

Fabregas confronted Hughes and condemned him for the way he encouraged his then Blackburn team to play football.

"Only when I play do you see a more fiery side to me," he told the Daily Mail. "Off the pitch I am nothing like that. I don't get angry.

"But with Mark Hughes... it's difficult to regret things I have said. Maybe I should have kept it to myself but at the time I said what I felt. I said sorry to him for saying it but it was what I was thinking at the moment. I have to admit that, at the time, I didn't know much about him. I knew Mark Hughes, the name, and I knew he had played for Barcelona and Manchester United. But I didn't realise just how good a player he had been. I am very young, remember."