Manuel Pellegrini is considering gambling on Vincent Kompany’s fitness for Tuesday’s Champions League showdown against Paris Saint-Germain, despite the concerns of Belgium’s coach, Marc Wilmots, that a further injury may rule the defender out of Euro 2016.
Kompany has not played since injuring a knee on 15 March in City’s Champions League last-16 second leg against Dynamo Kyiv at the Etihad Stadium.
On Wednesday City drew 2-2 at PSG in the quarter-final first leg. Pellegrini’s team will take what could prove two vital away goals into next week’s return, yet at Parc des Princes the defence was again shaky.
This will further strengthen the manager’s wish to select Kompany for Tuesday, with City having a real chance of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time.
Yet when Kompany was injured in March, Wilmots claimed to have spoken to the central defender and indicated that the player’s season was finished. “Vincent Kompany suffered a calf tear, which means he will need five to eight weeks to return,” he said. “I spoke to him on the phone. He has huge desire. We’ll see him on 16 May.”
Although Pellegrini has since stated Kompany has a knee rather than calf problem, after the draw with PSG he was clear the captain has a chance of featuring on Tuesday. “We’ll see him during the week and what he improves,” the manager said. “The last few days he’s worked very well. Now we must test him with more intensity and it’s very difficult to tell now.”
Wilmots is understood to want Kompany, his country’s captain, not to risk his fitness before Euro 2016 in what is the latest difference of opinion between a City manager and the Belgium coach over the 29-year-old’s return from injury.
Last October Kompany was named in the squad for the Euro 2016 qualifiers against Andorra and Israel by Wilmots, despite Kompany having been out since 15 September after his injury in the defeat by Juventus, and Pellegrini saying he could not play. Wilmots started him against Israel.
In March 2013 Roberto Mancini, Pellegrini’s predecessor, criticised Wilmots for playing Kompany against Macedonia after a 60-day absence with a calf injury.
Sergio Agüero believes the draw with PSG proves the club belong in elite company. “City are back where they have to be,” the striker said. “PSG are a great team, so it was important that we scored and, as luck would have it, we did. But we can’t take anything for granted. Nothing is certain. We have 90 minutes more and we must do our best.”
Agüero pointed to how City never wavered, despite being pinned back for large parts of the game. “We tried to play our game and do what we had to do,” he said. “We tried to wait a little and to have a counterattack. We scored the first goal and got the 1-0 lead that we wanted.
“I have a good feeling now. This was an important result and we are going to be very excited to play the second game, especially because it will be at home in front of all our fans.”
