Tevez will not apologise to Manchester City manager Mancini

Tevez will not apologise to Manchester City manager Mancini

Carlos Tevez maintains he has nothing to apologise to Roberto Mancini about and believes his team-mates will support his version of events.

Manager Mancini said Tevez refused to come on against Bayern Munich and will not feature for Manchester City again.

The striker blamed "confusion on the bench", adding he was "ready to play".

Mancini chose not to comment on the matter on Friday but received strong backing from Manchester United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson.

Tevez believes the players who were alongside him on the bench on Tuesday will back his story, despite telling Sky Sports later that evening: "I didn't feel right to play, so I didn't."

James Milner, Aleksandar Kolarov, Edin Dzeko and Pablo Zabaleta were on the bench when the confrontation took place.

Tevez, 27, has been suspended for two weeks by the club pending an investigation into the incident, which happened in the second half of the 2-0 Champions League defeat by Bayern.

Mancini appeared at his usual Friday news conference, but beforehand journalists were warned not to ask questions about Tevez.

The Italian manager denied this had been the hardest week of his managerial career.

"No, no, absolutely no," he said. "Why is it difficult? Some situations can happen in football, in your job. It's important that the past is finished.

"I don't have any complications. Only one complication that we had two days ago is that we lost against Bayern Munich, only this. We started very well. We can do a fantastic season, I don't have this problem.

"It is normal that one player is not happy to leave the pitch in an important game or to stay on the bench, it's a normal situation for every manager."

Ferguson endorsed Mancini's handling of the affair at his Friday news conference.

"Roberto has shown his strength of character, his strength of management and that is important," said Ferguson.

Tevez was widely criticised for his actions during his side's defeat in Munich, though he maintains that he did not refuse to play, insisting that his failure to take to the pitch was a "misunderstanding".