Vincent Kompany has grown into Manchester City role

Last updated : 14 May 2011 By Daily Mail

'As you get older you learn how to lead,'? Kompany told Sportsmail. 'When I was younger it was not like that. I would storm in to see the manager and say, 'You have got your team wrong. You have got to do this instead'. And when I mean younger, I mean really young. I was eight or nine when I was doing this!

'Then I would walk out of training when I had the feeling that the team wasn't doing things right. I was just too angry that people couldn't be bothered and stuff. I was always bothered. I always had to win. So I would just walk off midway through. Go home.

Happy days: Vincent Kompany celebrates after Manchester City beat Manchester United to reach the final

'When you get older I am 25 now you learn that you can't just walk out of training if you are angry or start shouting at everyone. You have to try and contain it and think of something you are going to say that's going to make a difference.'

It's the dressing room at Wembley 10 minutes before City's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United last month. Vincent Kompany is preparing to make a difference.

'I wanted to say something, so I kept it simple,' recalled Kompany, who has recently been captain in place of the injured Carlos Tevez. 'I said to the lads that when we won we would go and do the 'Poznan' celebration with the fans. I said not 'if' but 'when' because that's what I believe before every game. It's a distinction. It's important. I wanted the others to think that too.'

City's victory over United that day remains fresh in Kompany's mind. It's cherished, and with good reason. Two months earlier, Kompany had the best view of all of one of the goals of the season as Wayne Rooney's bicycle kick won a tight Barclays Premier League derby at Old Trafford.

'It was an unbelievable goal,' he recalled. 'But a couple of weeks after the defeat we learned that we would play United again in the Cup semi-finals. I thought that was the best thing. We just needed to get that image of Rooney's goal out of our heads.

Stunned: Kompany (left) watches Wayne Rooney score against City

'It was a defeat and whether people want to play them down or not, derbies are really big for the people in Manchester. The derby at Wembley was more than just football, so to beat them meant everything to us. Symbolically it was unbelievable. There is no point saying it didn't mean the world to us, because it did.'

Kompany is an intelligent man. He speaks four languages, follows politics and is an obsessive reader, while his three years in Manchester have seen him grow to understand the city's sporting culture. How interesting, then, that he could feasibly have been playing for the other side.

A prodigious teenage talent at Anderlecht six or seven years ago he was once known as the 'Belgian Desailly' Kompany was contacted by several large European clubs about a possible move. United were one of them.

Kompany was tempted but said 'no', choosing instead to stay in Belgium to complete his studies at a Flemish-speaking school.

'Just because I had played one first-team game it didn't mean I was going to be safe in football all my life,' he said. 'I had to have something to fall back on.

'At City, I feel I have done a lot so far and I feel I am pretty much part of what is happening. At another club I could have three or four titles but I wouldn't have been there from the start. So what would that have meant? Not much.'

Vincent Kompany's story began in Brussels in 1986. Born to Pierre, an immigrant from the Congo, and Jocelyne, he grew up in the red light district behind the main railway station.

His father was a taxi driver who studied to become an engineer. He lost his mother three years ago to cancer. His attitude is simple.

'My father didn't come all the way he did to give me chances and for me to fail,'? Kompany said. 'I owe it to him and to myself to do well.

'These are the things that define personalities. These are the things that have defined mine.

'Where I come from, not a lot of people have been successful. It's always been pretty difficult to get out. I know that hard work and a strong mentality have helped me.

Rising star: Kompany attracted plenty of attention while at Anderlecht in Belgium

'But, as I talk to you now, I am still quite far from where my goals are. We are able to say we are in a good club and doing good things. But I am nowhere near to where I want to be.

'You only have so long in football, so probably what I want will be unachievable but I always think: 'Let's try it'.

'Why not win a Champions League? Why not win a Premier League? I am not saying that these things sound realistic right now. But why not set it at as a goal? From there we can work towards it and see how we go.'

Kompany's decision to stay at Anderlecht as a young player was soon followed by a two-year lay-off with injury. As a result his eventual move from Belgium saw him end up at Hamburg in Germany.

A more modest destination than those put before him earlier, he eventually got his move to England in the summer of 2008.

Stepping stone: Kompany starred for Hamburg before joining City

'Some people said Hamburg was wrong,' he said. 'I disagreed and eventually I got to where I wanted to be. England.'

The last signing made by City prior to the club's purchase by Sheik Mansour, Kompany cost a club that has subsequently spent ?350m on players a modest ?6m. Having grown up as a defender, Kompany actually arrived at Eastlands as a central midfielder.

But the subsequent signings of Nigel de Jong, Yaya Toure and Gareth Barry, coupled with some defensive problems at the club, saw Kompany gravitate once more towards the centre of defence.

Literally and metaphorically, he rarely looks back now.

'When Iwas a centre back in some teams it was a problem,' he said. 'If you areplaying in that position for a team that isn't strong enough, all you are doing is running for others. I don't enjoy that.

'But when you play in a good team like ours, it's actually very enjoyable to play at the back.

'Sometimeswhat I didn't like at centre back was that as soon as something went wrong, everybody blamed the defence. In midfield you are protected from the blame. But ever since I have played in this position at City I have completely enjoyed it.

'Ialso think that, as a player, one of the biggest compliments and marks of respect is when you are playing and there are big players talented players on the bench. You have to appreciate that and I do.'

Recentlydescribed by some pundits as the Premier League's best central defender, Kompany's rise to prominence at Eastlands has been steady. It hasn't always been easy, losing his mother and also his place in the team when a foot injury required surgery last season.

Cityis a club where players don't always take setbacks very well. Some havetaken their ball home rather than stay and try to impress coach RobertoMancini.

Kompany, who has previously described Mancini as a 'genius', had a different attitude.

'Yeah,I have had a period when things went wrong in my life,' he said. 'I have had injuries and I lost my mum. But I must say also that sometimes if you want to be strong it's best not to think of anything at all.

'Comingfrom me, that sounds weird I know, because I tend to think about a lot of stuff. But sometimes you just don't have to think.

On the up: Kompany (centre) helped secure City's place in the Champions League next season

'I knew when I was injured, for example, that a team only has two centre halves and two central? midfielders and if those positions are taken by players who are doing fantastically well, then you are struggling.

'Like anybody, I can count and I knew my name didn't fit in that equation at that time. But I wouldn't let myself dwell on that.

'I could have spent the whole of my rehabilitation and preparation thinking of another club, but that was never an option for me.

'My approach is that if anyone is better than you, then you must look at what they have got and then try eventually to match it and then become better than them.

'In my situaton now, I have made a lot of progress. So that's good. But ultimately we will all be judged by what we achieve for this club. Those fans will be our judge.'

Having been at City during perhaps the most remarkable three years of the club's history, Kompany has witnessed great change. Not all of what he has seen has been good. City's training ground has been a lively place.

Community spirit: Kompany attended the opening of new football pitches

He does benefit from perspective, though. Not only does he believe Mancini's squad is tighter than it was when the likes of Robinho and Craig Bellamy were in it, he even has a little sympathy for the current media villain, Mario Balotelli.

'Sometimes (laughs) he's a bit unlucky,' he said. 'Sometimes we are all a bit unlucky if the stupid things we do are caught on camera.

'I was thinking recently about the problems he had and that I have had. I was in a situation like Mario once in Belgium. I arrived late for something. It got into the wrong people's ears and it became a silly story.

'I was actually late because I had been to my grandmother's funeral. But it blew up.

'Atthe time it fitted the picture that people wanted to have of me. But I thought to myself that whatever happened it wouldn't really change the world. That's what I thought. Mario must think like this.

'Thingshave happened [with other players] here in my time but it's more of a problem if you feel a situation isn't going to eventually evolve in a positive way.

'You very much know what to tell people to try and win a game and if they take it on board then they do and if they don't the manager or other people willtake care of it. I let them take care of it and they did.

'Ireally believe that when you have a situation where someone is not right for the group then the manager or director has to take care of it.It's not up to the players. We have a strong group now, though.

'Myself,Nigel, Carlos, [Joleon] Lescott, Shay [Given] ... and I could go on. Patrick [Vieira], obviously. It makes it easier for a manager when they have strong personalities in the squad. Having said that, everything is in some way related to how you perform.

'If you have a team of supposed winners and you are not winning then it can be tricky sometimes. You have a problem.'

At a Manchester City community event on the day we meet, Kompany is relaxed.

City'scommunity scheme has teamed up with the Manchester Sport and Leisure Trust to transform the under-used Regional Tennis Centre next to Eastlands into a facility also suitable for football.

In the spring sunshine, Kompany poses with children who will be able to use the new pitches.

Ourconversation is about a serious business, though. The FA Cup Final will, after all, be perhaps the biggest day of Kompany's? burgeoning career so far.

Over to you: Kompany (centre right) will let Carlos Tevez (centre left) lift the trophy if City beat Stoke

City will start as favourites against Tony Pulis's Stoke side. Lose and the victory over United will mean nothing.

'The one thing we can say for sure is we will not underestimate them and we will take this game just as seriously as the United game,' he said. 'There is no one in our team thinking that we are favourites and that we just have to go there and wrap it up and lift the Cup.

'I remember when I went to a? supporters' meeting in Stockport before the semi-final they were saying that if we beat United that is all that matters. They said they didn't care what happened after that.

'Now, though, we realise the final is much more important. People maybe don't realise how much this means to us. We want that cup and we'll do everything we can to get it.'

And if City do win, then who collects the trophy? Tevez and Kompany with one hand each?

'No way,' he smiled. 'Carlos lifts the cup. He is the club captain. I will be following with the champagne and I will be celebrating. Don't worry.'

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?Explore more:People: Craig Bellamy, Gareth Barry, Mario Balotelli, Vincent Kompany, Tony Pulis, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Roberto Mancini Places: Manchester, Brussels, Germany, Congo, United Kingdom, Belgium

Source: Daily Mail

Source: Daily Mail