Cesc Fabregas: Decision to end Ligue 1 season was maybe taken too soon

The Spaniard also said that he understands why the authorities opted for such a resolution.

With the likes of Bundesliga, La Liga and even the Premier League expecting to make a return in the next few weeks, AS Monaco midfielder Cesc Fabregas has revealed that he feels Ligue 1 could have waited a bit longer before ending the 2019-20 season.

Football across the world effectively came to a standstill by mid-March, due to restrictions following the global outbreak of Coronavirus. Popular football leagues across the world were immediately suspended as a result - and in April, the Dutch and French Football authorities decided that the Eredivisie and Ligue 1 seasons will not be given second chances to restart, declaring that they have ended with immediate effect.

While Eredivisie ended the season without naming a champion (as table-toppers Ajax and Alkmaar were tied on points), Ligue 1 declared Paris Saint-Germain as winners, based on a performance index rating taken from the number of points divided by the number of matches.

Fast-forward to a few weeks, and Bundesliga have already announced that they will restart the season on May 16, while La Liga and Premier League are continuing to hold talks to decide upon possible restart-dates. This, in turn, has made Cesc Fabregas question Ligue 1's decision to end the season prematurely.

"It was a big decision that was made and I can understand why they took it," he told BeIN Sports. "But maybe it was taken a little too soon, considering a lot of the big leagues are still all trying to resume."

"Although I completely understand the meaning behind it and it's better to be safe in all accounts because the most important is the families and the health security of everyone and support this 100 per cent," Cesc Fabregas continued.

"But maybe we could've considered individual training, where you have basically no risk. You're not touching anyone, you're not close to anyone. See if everyone was getting closer to football behind played all over the world," the former Arsenal, FC Barcelona and Chelsea star further added.

"Obviously, it's very difficult and I understand someone needs to make decisions. We just have to do what they're telling us. Difficult moment in our professional lives and personal lives, but we just have to hold on and everything will be fine in the future for sure."

The 33-year-old Spaniard's current club Monaco were at ninth place on the league table and nine points outside of the European qualification places when the season was called off. But they were not the only side who have expressed disagreement over the decision.

Earlier this week, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas urged the authorities to reconsider their stance, saying that he is still hopeful that they may yet turn away from the "wrong path".

"We are on the wrong path, it may not be too late to try to imagine, in the light of what is happening everywhere in Europe, something that is politically coherent," he had explained to L'Equipe, before adding: "we had until late August and maybe even early September to finish."