The incident made the front and back pages, and although Blues boss Stuart Pearce admits the whole episode affected Thatcher, he believes that the 31-year-old has responded well during his suspension.
"Ben's worked very hard in the time that he's been off the field," Pearce told the City website. "He's had no time off, I've not said to him, ‘take a week off here and a week off there.' He's worked as hard as he possibly could on the training pitch and been good around the place.
"When you've got nothing to look forward to at the end of the week it's very, very difficult as a player. But credit to him he's grafted away really well and certainly in Ben's case it's pleasing to have him back."
"I think he's very disappointed about it, as I've said from the outset," Pearce added about the Mendes incident.
"Speaking with him the morning after I knew exactly the remorse that was in his face and in his heart. He's got to learn by that and make sure it doesn't happen again, that's for sure.
"I don't think any individual could have gone under that spotlight and be totally oblivious to it," Pearce continued.
"Ben's got a reputation of being a tough-tackling left-back and sometimes people perceive you being the same off a football pitch as you are on it – and being totally oblivious to any criticism you might get. That often isn't the case and isn't the case with Ben.
"He's been affected by it but he's handled it pretty well, but you know the testing time is how he learns by it."