Manchester City (2) v FC Porto (1):MANCHESTER CITY striker Carlos Tevez has apologised "sincerely and unreservedly" for his conduct in recent months.
The Argentinian has also withdrawn his appeal against City’s fine of six weeks’ wages for gross misconduct, which was due to be heard by the Premier League in the coming days.
Tevez sparked a dispute with the club when he refused to warm up during the Champions League loss at Bayern Munich in September and then spent more than three months in Argentina without permission.
The 28-year-old reported back to the club last week after failing to secure a move during the January transfer window and says he now wants to fight for a place in the team.
Manager Roberto Mancini had long maintained he would only consider Tevez for selection again after an apology. In a statement released by City, Tevez said: “I wish to apologise sincerely and unreservedly to everybody I have let down and to whom my actions over the last few months have caused offence. My wish is to concentrate on playing football for Manchester City Football Club.”
Tevez was given his own fitness programme when he reported back to the club’s Carrington training headquarters last week.
He had said he could be match fit in two weeks but it remains to be seen how quickly he can get himself back into first-team contention.
The former Manchester United and West Ham player is ineligible to play in today’s Europa League tie against Porto having not been registered for the competition.
The Premier League leaders then have back-to-back home games against Blackburn and Bolton on February 25th and March 3rd.
Tevez has not played for City since that infamous night at Munich’s Allianz Arena on September 27th.
Mancini initially said the player was “finished” at the club as a result of his conduct on the bench.
Tevez was suspended and later fined for misconduct before he flew back to South America to begin his unauthorised leave on November 7th.
Meanwhile Mancini is confident Mario Balotelli will be unaffected when Porto return for the second leg of the Europa League tie tonight after racist chants were aimed at the forward in their 2-1 win against the Portuguese champions last week.
An own goal from Alvaro Pereira and a winner from Sergio Aguero make City favourites to progress to the last 16 and Mancini said: “Every game is dangerous but it is better to start from 2-1. We know that Porto is a top team and we should play like it’s 0-0. It is a difficult game and will depend on us – we need to play well. For us every game is serious.”
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
MANCHESTER CITY: (4-2-3-1) Hart; Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; De Jong, Barry; Nasri, Y Toure, Silva; Balotelli.
FC PORTO:(4-3-3) Helton; Sapunaru, Otamendi, Rolando, A Sandro; Fernando, Moutinho, Lucho; J Rodriguez, Hulk, Varela.
Guardian Service
