Pep Guardiola 'delighted' to welcome Vincent Kompany back but errs on the side of caution

Kompany completed his first 90 minutes for City since last September

Vincent Kompany also said after the game how happy he was to be back in the mix (Getty)

Pep Guardiola was delighted to welcome Vincent Kompany back into the Manchester City team on Saturday, as his captain completed 90 minutes for the first time since last September, but warned that the club will tread carefully with the player as he continues to recover fully from injury.

Kompany’s absence has been a disaster for City this season who have struggled for stability at the back. But Kompany has been excelling in training recently and was able to complete Saturday’s game with no obvious problems. If Kompany can even play half of City’s games for the rest of the season he will help a side trying to compete in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, and the captain was assessed on Sunday back in Manchester to see how his body reacted to the game.

“We are going to see on Sunday his regeneration and after then we will see,” Guardiola said. “The first step is done, that is good. It is a long time since this happened, since he was able to play 90 minutes without injury. Last season I remember the semi-final of the Champions League [he went off] after seven minutes.”

Guardiola praised Kompany’s work as well as that of Dr Ramon Cugat, the Barcelona-based orthopaedic surgeon who Guardiola has always worked with. Dr Cugat, who rescued Guardiola’s own playing career, has helped to solve Kompany’s own muscular problems this season as well as working with Kevin de Bruyne. City have also appointed Dr Eduardo Mauri, a close associate of Dr Cugat, formerly of Espanyol, as their new club doctor.

“The doctors and the physios that Manchester City have are exceptional, some of the best I ever worked with in my life,” Guardiola said. “That has helped him a lot to get fit, that is good.”

Kompany was himself delighted to be back after having his season ruined by injuries so far. Kompany said that he knew he was ready to play again after excelling in training in recent weeks.

“I keep going and if I felt that in training these guys were a little too much for me I’d hold my hand up and say, ‘This was a little too much for me’,” he said. “But at the moment I’m with the best in training so there’s no reason to stop.”

Kompany’s early career at Anderlecht and Hamburg was blighted by injuries which means that he has the resilience to overcome problems, as he has shown over the last 18 months at City.

“I just trust myself and all the situations I’ve seen over the past 13 years,” he said. “There’s very few moves that players will do that I haven’t seen, dealt or thought about before. The only thing is whether the body goes where you want to go. That’s not been a problem and I knew from training. If you get through training at City, then you’re alright for most of the games.”

The return of Kompany meant another game on the bench for John Stones, who Guardiola admitted was not the right man to take on the physical challenge of Christian Benteke.

Had Kompany been fit all season it might have been easier for Stones, who has struggled since his £48m move in part because he has not had a stable experienced partner alongside him. Stones has not played City’s last two games and Guardiola said that not every game was right for the young prodigy, telling him to “fight” like he did at the start of the season..

Guardiola praised his captain's work in recovering from injury (Getty)

“If you see my line-ups for the last three, four , five months I try to have all the players play,” Guardiola explained. “So he’s played a lot. But now, for this kind of stadium, for [Christian] Benteke, for the long-balls, I decide to play two central defenders more strong in the air. I will continue to play a left-footed central defender on the left side, like Kolarov. But I remember the last games he played, especially in Anfield, even in Goodison Park, he played good.”