Kia Joorabchian has defended Manchester City rebel Carlos Tevez.

Joorabchian, Tevez's adviser, claimed several Premier League stars had refused to play for clubs during the summer but their managers handled the situation differently.

He said: "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. That is a problem in general.

"My opinion is they refused to play in a different way and those managers and the clubs handled them very differently.

"Roberto has his style of management and it is very direct and very different to Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger or Carlo Ancelotti."

Joorabchian said TV pictures showed the situation on the bench in Munich to be confused, with a row between City boss Roberto Mancini and striker Edin Dzeko, who was angry at having been substituted.

He said: "What happened on the bench in Munich was one of a lot of confusion as shown on the TV footage. The events of Munich have been judged prior to the real outcome coming out.

"We see Nigel de Jong going on and Carlos still warming up and a God-awful row between Roberto Mancini and Edin Dzeko. You see this row carrying on and Carlos sits down. Carlos then stands up, there's more shouting and he sits back down. The next thing we hear is what Roberto says.

"I have known Carlos since he was an 18-year-old and you cannot criticise his commitment in terms of wanting to play.

"He has played at Manchester City having taken injections, with swollen ankles. He played at Corinthians where doctors have told him not to play.

"Carlos throughout his career is one that fights to play. If there is an issue it's because he is so eager to play."