The striker, instead, was in Italy having treatment on the hamstring injury which ruled him out of the FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester United.
That injury could also mean City fans have seen the last of their 21-goal top scorer this season – and possibly for good.
And while that would leave a yawning gap in the Blues squad, Saturday showed that there is life without the talismanic Tevez.
With the whispers getting louder that Tevez will quit City in the summer to head for Inter Milan – Juventus are also reportedly preparing a big bid – the victory at Wembley was timely.
Tevez, for all of his brilliance and commitment in his two seasons at Eastlands to date, has never given the impression that he was absorbed in the City cause.
Badge-kissing is de rigeur, but players can convey their unity with the club – and more importantly with the fans – in more meaningful ways.
No-one who was at Wembley, and who has watched City on a regular basis, would suggest that men like Nigel de Jong, Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta have not taken City to their hearts.
And while Tevez has fought tooth and nail for every ball, there has always been a distance about him, a feeling that he is biding his time at City.
That was drummed home in a few fateful days in December, when he declared himself homesick and slapped in a transfer request.
City stood firm, refused the request and eventually talked the player round.
Rumour persists that Tevez was persuaded to swallow his grumbles and help the club to their twin goal of landing a top four place and winning a trophy – and in return City would look favourably on any summer request for a move.
Tevez was true to his word, firing in the goals which kept City in the Champions League spots, although he has looked curiously flat for the last two months.
Penalty
In fact, since his hat-trick to sink West Brom on February 5, Tevez has netted just twice, one of them a scruffy penalty against Sunderland.
That tally is bettered by David Silva and Yaya Toure with four each, by the under-fire Edin Dzeko with three, and even by bit-part player Patrick Vieira, who has also scored three.
Those are encouraging statistics for City, who had become over-reliant on the industrious little Argentine.
A few weeks ago, another statistic showed that Tevez had scored 40 per cent of City’s league goals this season, the highest proportion in the Premier League.
That stat has since come down.
But over and above seductively misleading stats, what happened at Wembley also gave some encouragement to City fans contemplating the rest of this season – and possibly the rest of their lives – without Tevez.
At half time one respected commentator suggested City were doing well for a “ten-man team”, a pointed criticism of Mario Balotelli.
But that was an unfair prod. Balotelli was asked to do a job which is not in his normal compass, to lead the line alone.
Playing that lone role is demanding at the best of times, but to do it in the face of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, one of the world’s best central defensive pairings, is a huge ask for a 20-year-old.
For a man who has almost been buried under an avalanche of criticism – some of it valid, most of it over-blown and hysterical – since he came to City, he made a fist of his job in that first half.
And in the second half, he played a full part as the Blues proved too powerful for their Red neighbours, and rampaged through their defence at will.
Most encouraging for City fans was Balotelli’s reaction at the final whistle, when he celebrated long and hard, and shook his shirt at a camera lens – a reaction which sparked inexplicable fury from Anderson and Rio Ferdinand.
Balotelli has been royally criticised for showing no emotion, for playing with a scowl on his face.
The fact that he released his emotion will delight City fans, and so it should. Any faint-hearts on the terraces who feel offended by opponents celebrating in front of them, after giving him merciless abuse for 90 minutes, should think about retiring from football support and try croquet instead.
Dzeko
The great imponderable in all this is Edin Dzeko, who was a spectator from the bench in all this.
For those of a conspiratorial bent, Dzeko was seen as a replacement for Tevez when City splashed out £27million for him in January.
City had been lining him up for a summer move, but moved quickly when it became clear there was a chance they could lose the Bosnian striker if they did not land him there and then.
A summer move would have given Dzeko a full pre-season with his new teammates. Instead, he was dropped into the middle of a full-blown, frantic Premier League season and expected to continue the free-scoring form which made him the scourge of Bundesliga defences.
The time to judge Dzeko will be at the end of next season, not this.
Those who make up their minds after ten or 12 games would have hounded him out of Wolfsburg, where he was underwhelming in his first full season, scoring nine in 33 games and failing to impress.
The club was more patient and rational, and Dzeko scored 76 goals in 105 appearances over the next three seasons.
Of course there are no guarantees that the big man will repeat that in England, but he deserves the chance.
Any sale of Tevez would also mean City could go fishing in the big pond of the European transfer market again, hopefully equipped with a Champions League rod this time.
Tevez, for all of his excellence, is not irreplaceable. City can prove that between now and May 22, and achieve all of their dreams.
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If Tevez was our leader he would have been at Wembley....I hope we get a massive fee for him and that we clear out the likes of Ade/Bellers/Caicedo/Bridge/Ned/Vidal/Logan/Viera/RSC/Jo/Kolo
I imagine then that we would need one more defensive midfielder,one creative midfielder,and two strikers......King Carlitos has always been great on the field,just wish we could have got him to love City as much as we do......
Excellent piece Mr Brennan
Mr Brennan...the best article you have ever written!!
This is a fantastic point as well........'Any faint-hearts on the terraces who feel offended by opponents celebrating in front of them, after giving him merciless abuse for 90 minutes, should think about retiring from football support and try croquet instead.'
Excellent article
I am grateful for Tevez`s input over the last two seasons, but its clear that his heart has not really been in it since January so perhaps a summer move abroad would be the best solution.
After all in today's market he must surely be worth £40 million plus and could also be used in an exchange deal.
Can`t help thinking what may have happened on Saturday if Kompany wasn't the man to give the half time captain team talk either.
If he couldn't be bothered to go to the semi then we might as well not bother him for the final!
Excellent article, precise and great food for thought and takes away the low of the liklihood of the impending departure of Al Apache!!. Thanks Mr Brennan.
What a well written article, i think all City fans know Tev is off in the summer and i for one would like to thank him for what he has done over the last 2 years, not least the wind-up Furgi poster - Classic!!
Looking to the future, we can all see that Mario is quality and hope he shuts all the baying press (writer excluded) with a nice goal run to the end of the season, scoring the winner in the Cup Final would be the cherry on the cake.
I still think Dzeko will come good, it just takes some players a bit longer to get used to the Prem, we'll see but lets give the kid some time to adjust.
In the short term, i hope Tev can get fit for the Final & the last 3-4 games just to help us over the line into the Chaps League, then Starship CITY will be move into overdrive!
Good article but if he's away getting treatment instead of soaking the atmosphere up then I wont criticise him too much. We coped without him for one game but we need him as part of the squad for the run in. Whether he stays or goes he will have played a huge part of our season.
BRILLIANTLY PUT!! TOP WRITING!!
Although he's been a City player since last summer, I think Saturday finally made Mario a Blue. The way he worked through the game, celebrated the goal with his teammates, and then at the end of the game, shows me he know "gets it". The look on his and the rest of the squads faces doing The Poznan was priceless.
I think Saturday saw the birth of a City TEAM!
Even in the crazy world of "player power" Tevez is still under contract to Manchester City so any thoughts of him intending to "quit City and head for Inter Milan" will be dependent on City's willingness to let him leave and the size of the fee offered (subject to any contract clauses that we don't know about). If Carlos wants to go then personally I'd rather he went, with our thanks, but only if City receive the appropriate fee (see Torres to Chelsea at £50m).
When Tevez is in the team everything always has to go through him, and once he's got the ball he's very reluctant to pass it to anyone else.
When Tevez isn't in the team it gives the other players room to play their game.
Saturday showed that we can have confidence in our ability to live without him.
I find something about Balotelli whic means I have to like him. He can be infuriating, but just step back and face the fact that we paid a lot of money for a very young player with great promise and a drawer full of medals. He comes to a foreign land, gets it in the neck from the press, gets sent off, booked and criticised and everyone forgets that while Paul Scholes is trying to maim a City player, Mario is committing the immeasurably more serious offence of winking, not only winking but doing it sarcastically, at Rio Ferdinand. He and his henchman Andersen determined, it appeared, to "sort out" Mario for taking pleasure in beating them in a semi final! And who was there quick to prevent them getting to our Mario? Edin Dzeko. No shortage of team spirit there. So, yes, there will be life after Tevez. If Carlito leaves in the summer I shall be grateful for what he did for us, but City will go on and up.
Not bothered if he wasn't at Wembley if he was getting treatment. I doubt the club would have let him go otherwise. Whether he plays again depends on fitness and then whether RM picks him. Its quite clear that RM places little value on sentiment (and before anyone says what about PV, I think he gets picked because he fulfils a specific, if not obvious, role that RM wants doing).
It would be nice to see Carlos as part of Top 4, cup winning team. Pretty sure we'd be nowhere near without his energy in the first half of the season.
Great article.
Tevez has been great for us, but oddly enough I dont think he will be difficult to replace.
To say that City CAN survive the departure of Carlos Tevez is too weak a claim. The real point is that City CAN ONLY progress on to the next level as a TEAM if he does go.
Knowing how unpopular it would be to say so, Argentina manager Sergio Batista has nevertheless recently gone on record as stating that Tevez is unlikely to fit in with his plans to create a Barcelona-style team, i.e., one where players pass to each without favour. Roberto Mancini has also known for a long time that Tevez is not a team player but he has not been able to do anything about it. Given that some City fans still complain about the departures of Ireland and Bellamy, imagine the grief they would have given Mancini if he had sold Tevez last summer or even last January.
When it comes to the assessment of Edin Dzeko at the end of the season, the number of goals he has scored is not the only important statistic. I hope that City fans will take into account that he has been effectively frozen out by Tevez when they have played together. According to the Guardian Chalkboard, which covers just Premier League games, Tevez has passed just half a dozen times IN TOTAL to Edin Dzeko in the matches against Wolves, Birmingham, Manchester United, West Brom, Fulham and Liverpool.
Against Aris Salonika, Tevez did pass to Dzeko. But instead of passing back to him, Dzeko scored. The immediate, albeit fleeting, reaction of Tevez - his expression and body language - spoke volumes.
What a fantastic article this Stuart - just the sense of perspective needed at this club.
I don't like Tevez.
His attitude stinks.
Give me Kompany, De jong, Silva and Zaba anyday over this money driven fool.
He was in Milan!
What a captain!
If we get the following players in over the summer we will probably win the league next year and I reckon we can get all 5 for around £50m -
(1) - Xabi Alonso (would fit in alongside NDJ perfectly - great ball winner and superb passer and would probably be available);
(2) - Stephen Warnock (solid English left back) would slot straight into a problem position for us;
(3) - Charles N'Zogbia (attacking left sided player - offer us a threat on both flanks and would be great competition for AJ;
(4) - Alexis Sanchez - flying winger again, can play either side or upfront; and
(5) - Didier Drogba - great target man for City - would assist Ballotelli and Dzeko and would jump at the chance of leaving Chelski
DISCUSS
can take the press slating tevez, but our own fans having a dig !!!
who has said he is leaving ?? get a grip blues if the lad does leave then i for one will give him to respect he deserves, never ever does he not try !! never ever does he give anything less than his full efforts.
just cos the press slate us and him, us blues should back him, it seems we won a big game without him and our fans get all big headed.
tevez is blue untill we hear anythin different from the club, back him or back off
grego the peel hall blue
PLEASE ALLOW MY POST EVEN THOUGH I DARE TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR BAD PRESS TOWARDS THE OTHER TEAM IN MANCHESTER.
well done the MUEN for finding a problem when in a week supporting city couldnt get better, beatin united and into a cup final for the first time in 30 years or so, and still sitting 4th in the best league in the world.
why not get a story that carlos tevez is giving the same efforts in getting fit for the final, and the last few weeks of the season !!, that he puts onto the football pitch in every game since we took him from the muens very own club !! ragchester united.
oh no the united news have to find a fault with carlos missing wembley, maybe they should stop reading the morning papers for gossip and do some work themselves ?
maybe contact city and fill us fans with facts rather than gossip ?????
i understand that our manchester city fc upset the muen with the wembley win !!! and now you need to knock us with GOSSIP whilst also looking for some fans to read into your ragtag story.
i doubt you will allow my post as i dare to say its bad press towards my football club but worst still say a bad word about the club loved most by the muen and its staff, but in a week when things look good at our club, its only the muen who could find a problem and get some strange fans to agree along the way.
Blood and sand, Mr Brennan
You are on a roll here mate.
10/10 Mr B just love the paragraph about super Marios crime ha ha top one Stuart!!!
Tevez has not left yet! but I agree the rumours suggest he will go.....
Well the way to look at it is if he goes someone else will come in.
The club are bigger than one man and while I hope he stays to be honest far more important is finishing fourth and winning the cup, you watch if we do those two things players will want to sign for us.
Everyone connected to City should be positive, because its time to realise the future is looking better for our club than in an awful long time, Remember some folks in media were telling us it was all over for City when Robinho left, er think not!