‘Suarez wrong – but not a racist’
Suarez is currently serving an eight-game ban after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Evra and will not face City in tonight’s Carling Cup semi-final first leg.
The Uruguay striker claimed the term with which he was found to have insulted Evra is not derogatory in his native country, but last week did issue a broad apology for any offence caused.
Mancini said: “I think that sometimes a situation like this can happen on the pitch. It is important to apologise for what he did.
“Sometimes on the pitch you can do something that you don’t want to do. You are nervous. You don’t think on the pitch. I don’t think Suarez is a racist.
“Everyone can do a mistake sometimes. It is impossible that we are always perfect. It is important to say, ‘I am sorry, I made a mistake, I apologise for this and I accept the charge’.”
Liverpool have been heavily criticised for their strong backing of Suarez and their handling of the whole affair, which included players wearing T-shirts in support of Suarez while warming up before the Premier League fixture at Wigan.
Mancini, speaking at a press conference to preview tonight’s game at the Etihad Stadium, said he thought that was “maybe a mistake”.
Meanwhile, Mancini has defended his call for further investment in his squad.
After spending around £250 million on new players since his arrival two years ago, Mancini attracted scorn on Friday when he claimed City would struggle to fill their substitutes’ bench for the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United.
As it turned out, City did come up with seven replacements, although they included Abdul Razak and Denis Suarez, who have just six first-team appearances between them, all but two from the bench.
Things may be even worse for tonight’s first-leg encounter with Liverpool.
Star man David Silva is a doubt, in addition to Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko.
And although Gareth Barry does return from suspension, skipper Vincent Kompany is starting a four-match ban after the FA rejected his appeal against the red card he received on Sunday.
With resources already depleted due to the absences of Yaya and Kolo Toure, who are on African Cup of Nations duty with the Ivory Coast, Mancini has raised the possibility of 17-year-old Dutchman Karim Rekik being involved.
“All the people think we have a lot of players,” said Mancini.
“But we have 19, plus keepers. It is not a big squad.
“If we are unlucky and we have three or four players injured, like at this moment, we can have a problem. The club knows this.”
The spectre of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations being invoked means Mancini may have to sell before he can bring anyone else in. Yet the Italian claims there has, so far, been no movement on the potential departures of Nedum Onuoha and Wayne Bridge, who is likely to be on the radar of new QPR boss Mark Hughes.
And, whilst Carlos Tevez is now being courted by both Milan clubs, at present there is no deal.
It all adds to Mancini’s sense of frustration, in a period he always felt would be pivotal to his side’s chances of landing some silverware.
“I said four weeks ago that December and January would be crucial months,” he said.
“Until three weeks ago we didn’t have any injuries. Now, we have a problem.
“I am not happy about this but we can’t do anything about it. If we don’t get the players back we will play with the young players. If we don’t have a central defender we will play with [Karim] Rekik.”
Even with Kompany missing, Rekik will not be required to start tonight.
However, Stefan Savic, who only celebrated his 21st birthday on Sunday, will be the man who partners Joleon Lescott after the FA came down on the side of Chris Foy over the contentious decision to dismiss Kompany for his 12th-minute foul on Nani.
Mancini is bound to be annoyed by the verdict, even if it was fairly predictable.
“My opinion has not changed,” said the Italian yesterday morning, prior to the announcement.
“I am confident because Vinny only played 10 minutes.
“He was sent off for nothing.’’
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish does not think last week’s defeat to Manchester City will have any bearing on tonight’s game.
The Reds return to the Etihad Stadium just eight days after they departed having lost 3-0 in the Premier League with a performance which was characterised by individual errors.
Dalglish’s side head back across the M62 expecting things to be different tonight.
“We lost 3-0 and so we will look at it but I don’t think it will be a reflection on the next two games coming up [against City],” said Dalglish of last week’s result.
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