Mancini buries hatchet: Carlos Tevez makes first Manchester City appearance since September

[1]

Carlos Tevez made his first appearance for Manchester City since September when he came on as a substitute against Chelsea on Wednesday.

Tevez had been named on City's bench for the first time since September, when he refused to warm up during his side's Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich, and he was sent on for his return from exile in the 66th minute at Eastlands.

City boss Roberto Mancini brought on Argentine forward Tevez as a replacement for midfielder Nigel de Jong in a desperate bid to spark his team into life after Gary Cahill gave Chelsea the lead just moments earlier.

Mancini's side needed to beat Chelsea to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester United to one point.

Mancini was furious with Tevez's behaviour against Bayern and initially insisted the former United striker would never play for the club again.

But with City's challenge for the Premier League title faltering, Mancini has buried the hatchet, at least for the final 10 league games of the season.

City had hoped to sell Tevez during the January transfer window and the player spent three months back home in Argentina while he waited for his future to be decided.

However, talks with Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Inter Milan all failed to produce a suitable deal for City, who were holding out for a fee of £25 million.

Tevez incured a series of fines from City during his exile as his trip to Argentina wasn't sanctioned by the club.

But he finally returned to England once it became clear he wouldn't be able to leave City this season and offered an apology to Mancini and the club for his actions.

Now, five weeks after returning to training, the 28-year-old is close to match fitness and Mancini has thrown him into the Premier League title race.

Speaking recently, Mancini said: "What happened with Carlo six months ago is in the past. Carlo is part of our plans for the last two months, he is a City player.

"I think Carlo in this moment wants to play football. He needs to play football, for him and for his future. He wants to play.

"I can see in training he is perfect, better than last year. He wants to play and deserves to play and help the team. I have always thought Carlo is a top player, even when we had the problem."