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Man City's Vincent Kompany subbed because he was 'tired' - Pep Guardiola

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has said he substituted Vincent Kompany at half-time in the 1-0 EFL Cup defeat to Manchester United because the defender told him he was tired.

City captain Kompany, 30, has suffered repeated injuries over in recent seasons but made a second successive start in Wednesday's derby after playing for 78 minutes in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Southampton. 

He was replaced by Aleksandar Kolarov at the break at Old Trafford, though, and Guardiola told reporters: "He told us he is tired and was not ready to play the second half."

Guardiola had left the Belgium international out of the squad for last week's 4-0 loss to Barcelona and afterwards explained that Kompany's head was "not ready" to play at the Camp Nou. 

He added after the derby loss: "The important thing is after two years injured, he played three days ago 70 minutes, today 45 and no injuries. That is a good step -- the first step.

"After we have to see. He felt not good, knowing what happened in the past."

Kompany has been dogged by muscle injuries, suffering five separate problems last campaign, which restricted him to just 20 starts from 59 games. He also played only 31 games of the 51 matches in 2014-15.

He missed Euro 2016 with a thigh injury that saw him sidelined for four months and has made a total of four appearances under Guardiola, starting last month's 2-1 EFL Cup win over Swansea City before coming on as a late substitute in this month's 1-1 draw with Everton in the Premier League.

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