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Manchester City's Carlos Tevez: Roberto Mancini treated me 'like a dog'
The Argentine striker has accused his manager of verbally abusing him, but believes the City fans have been misinformed and he will attempt to win them back
14-Feb-2012 1:11:36 AM
By Joe Doyle
Getty Images
Carlos Tevez has accused Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini of treating him "like a dog" during the Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich in September, when the Argentine famously refused to warm up.
The incident seemed to signal the exit for the striker, but he revealed on Monday that he will attempt to win over the City fans again when he returns to training on Tuesday morning, and insists that they have been misinformed about the incident.
"I was kind of in a bad mood, and when [Roberto Mancini] 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 told Fox Sports Latin America.
"So I'd 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.
"[Dzeko] sees the tunnel is closed, so he has to sit down next to [Mancini] and they have an argument. Dzeko was speaking Bosnian and Mancini would swear at him in Italian, it was a real mess.
"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 he treats me like a dog.
"So then he spoke to me in that tone of voice and I said: 'No, I'm not going out'. I was willing to play, but the coach was in such a foul mood because he had that argument with Dzeko, and he started on me as well.
"He started swearing at me. That was him, because I was very calm - I was sitting on the bench. You can see from the footage that I was calm, just talking with [Pablo] Zabaleta. Mancini said some horrible things to me."
Tevez insists that it is only natural that the fans turned against him after this incident, but will be heading back this week to win back their support.
"Yes, [I'm heading back this week]. It's a decision I've taken to win back the supporters who've turned against me since what happened against Bayern [Munich].
"I believe they were misinformed, they weren't told the facts. So that when they were told that I didn't want to play they naturally turned against me.
"If a player doesn't want to play for a team that's paying their wages, it's only natural for them to turn against that player.
"And I couldn't understand what was going on. I swore like any player would. I gave everything to that club and when I saw them burning the 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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