Carlos Tevez headed back to England accusing Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini of treating him “like a dog” in the incident that led to his exile from the Premier League leaders.
The Argentina striker said on Monday that an angry Mancini swore at him during the Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich in September, where the striker’s refusal to warm-up incensed his Italian boss.
Tevez has not played for City since that Sept. 27 match in Germany, but he was due to return to Eastlands yesterday in a bid to revive a career that has effectively been suspended for more than three months.
Photo: Reuters
Mancini has indicated his willingness to make peace with Tevez if the player apologizes to him and Tevez, during a Fox Sports interview broadcast in translation on Britain’s Sky Sports News on Monday, said: “I do not think I was wrong, but if they [the club] think so, I apologize.”
“I am ready to return, to win and do the best for the club’s shirt,” he added. “Hopefully, I can help City to be champions again.”
However, given his description of events in Munich, it may take more than Tevez saying sorry to repair his relationship with Mancini.
“I was kind of in a bad mood and when he brings on [Nigel] de Jong and takes off [Edin] Dzeko, and we’re losing 2-0, I thought it was a defensive substitution so I decided to sit back on the bench,” Tevez recalled. “I had already warmed up for 10 minutes and he has this attitude that he wants to lose 2-0 instead of 4-0. So I sat down, and at the same time Dzeko comes off and is really angry, and has a go at Mancini. He then sees the tunnel is closed so he has to sit down next to him and they start to have an argument.”
“Dzeko was speaking Bosnian and Mancini would swear at him in Italian, so it was a real mess,” he said. “So I go and sit down, and he doesn’t see me because he’s having this discussion, but then he turns around and sees me, and you can imagine what happens. He’s in the middle of an argument, so then he tells me to keep on warming up and treats me like a dog.”
“So when he spoke to me in that tone of voice, and I said: ‘No, I’m not going out.’ So I was willing to play, but the coach was in such a foul mood because he had that argument with Dzeko,” Tevez said. “He started on me as well, started swearing at me, that was him, because I was very calm ... Mancini said some horrible things to me.”
Prior to last month’s transfer window there was speculation Tevez, who returned to Argentina after his bust-up with Mancini, would be sold by City.
However, despite interest from Inter, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, no deal was done.
Tevez proved a hit with City’s fans soon after joining the club from city rivals Manchester United in 2009, but they turned on their one-time favorite after his spat with Mancini.
Tevez said their reaction was understandable.
“I believe they were misinformed, they weren’t told the facts,” he said. “So that when they were told I didn’t want to play, they naturally turned against me. When I saw them burning my shirt with my name on it or hurling insults at me, it really hurt. I gave everything to that club and what I love above all is to play football.”
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