Soccer: Pablo Zabaleta believes it is up to the Manchester City players to try and help Carlos Tevez. The Argentine, who has twice announced a desire to leave the Blues in the recent past, caused controversy on Tuesday when he apparently refused to step off the bench during a Uefa Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.

Tevez has since denied the claims, but City suspended him on Wednesday pending a full investigation into his actions.

Zabaleta was also among the substitutes against Bayern and was seen talking to his international colleague throughout the game. He insists he was unaware of what was unfolding around him, as manager Roberto Mancini was left fuming on the sidelines.

He has, however, vowed to help Tevez through a troubled period in his career and claims to understand how the frustrated forward must be feeling.

"We need to try to help Carlos," said Zabaleta. "He has been a really important player for us in the last two years but maybe this season he has had more games on the bench.

"Sometimes that is difficult, and more so for strikers, who need to play, need to score, need to feel confidence."

Zabaleta appreciates that Tevez wants to play every game, as he feels exactly the same, but concedes that, given the competition for places at City, it is not always possible.

"Everybody always wants to play, maybe it's like that," said the 26-year-old. "It is a difficult moment for him but we need to be calm. All players have different characters and sometimes the decision is going to be very difficult for everybody because we have too many players.

"We need to accept that sometimes we are on the bench but we always have to be looking to get into the team."

Sergio Aguero says he feels "sad" for his fellow countryman.

Manager Roberto Mancini stated immediately after Tuesday's game that, as far as he was concerned, Tevez is "finished" at City. It all adds to a sense of unease around City, which even Aguero is not too happy with despite his own recent impressive form.

"Roberto is in charge," he said, before news of Tevez's suspension became known. "He puts through his opinions and ideas, and obviously makes his decisions. We just have to go with it.

"Carlos is a great player but obviously I am not inside his mind, to know his thoughts and opinions. It does make me sad. But they are two grown men and maybe they will sort it out."

That seems impossible, with City taking advantage of a planned day off for their first-team squad to give the whole furore some breathing space. The club are ensuring any action they take will not be the subject of appeals by Tevez, as prima-face as the evidence appears to be.

Most likely is a January sale, although that would leave Tevez hanging around for another three months, bringing with it huge potential for disruption.

However, given the vast Abu Dhabi wealth bankrolling the entire City operation, it cannot entirely be discounted that the man who skippered the Blues to their FA Cup triumph in May, the club's first silverware since 1976, will have his contract cancelled, or that he will be left to fester until the end of his deal in 2014.

Compromise is not on the agenda.

For all the finance lavished on a player who became a City hero the instant he opted to join the club for whom he now earns in excess of €280,000 a week and the emotional investment spent talking him into staying when his first transfer request was submitted in December, Tevez has wrecked his legacy.

"He (Mancini) has dealt with it in the way he thinks is right," said assistant manager David Platt. "I think he is right. The pictures are on the TV. What do you want him to do? Come out and lie? He has told it as it is. Full stop."