Tevez advisor points blame at interpreter

Carlos Tevez’s advisor has insisted the striker did not refuse to play for Manchester City and claimed that post-match comments by the player suggesting he had done so were mistranslated by a club interpreter. Kia Joorabchian said the Argentina striker always went out of his way to play, even when injured.

Tevez is currently serving a two-week suspension pending a club investigation that he allegedly disobeyed Roberto Mancini’s instructions during last week’s Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich. Tevez’s initial post-match comment was translated by a City employee as: “I did not feel right to play so I did not.”

Joorabchian told the Leaders in Football conference: “One of the biggest problems is that in a situation right after a game questions are asked and things are taken out of context.

“If you don’t have a very professional interpreter you have a problem. The interpretation was incorrect. This is a personal relationship between two people. We have seen this happen all through the summer. We have seen [Cesc] Fabregas, [Samir] Nasri and [Luka] Modric – the list goes on – but they are the high-profile names who have handed in transfer requests, refused to travel, refused to play.”