Kompany’s ‘perfect’ farewell to the Etihad

V I NC E N T Kompa n y (right) hailed a perfect evening despite being forced to miss his own test i mon ia l t h roug h injury.

A crowd of 51,602 turned up at the Etihad Stadium last night to say farewell to the former Manchester City captain, who left the Premier League champions at the end of last season.

They were denied the chance of seeing the i nspirational defender in action for one last time due to yet another injury, however – a frustration the man himself knows only too well.

The 33-year-old won 10 major honours in 11 years at the club but he was dogged by muscular problems throughout the second half of his City career.

“It’s typical me,” he said of the hamstring injury before the game but that did not stop him enjoying the friendly between a City side featuring a host of star names from throughout his career and a Premier League All Stars XI.

“I’m the proudest man in the world,” said the Belgian, who also gave game time to his brother Francois and a number of players from Anderlecht, where he is now player-manager.

“It’s been a special day. It’s been a perfect evening even though I didn’t play. I couldn’t have wished for more.”

The priority for Kompany was raising funds for his homelessness charity Tackle4MCR, which aims to eradicate rough sleeping in Manchester. It is an issue that has been close to his heart throughout his stay in the city he now considers home.

“The key thing is to raise as much funding as we can and use it to help the people who are helping those living on the streets,” he said.

The game itself finished 2-2 with City scoring in the first and last minutes t hrough Martin Petrov and Benjani Mwaruwari.

The Premier League side struck through Robbie Keane and Robin van Persie, one of a number of former Manchester United players to feature. Others included Gary Neville – who left the field injured – Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick.

Kompany said: “We are specifically dealing with homelessness in Greater Manchester. You can’t have a successful project without Manchester United involved. If we can get together for these sort of events the city is stronger.”

Kompany’s departure left City with one fewer specialist central defender, and a lack of cover could be exposed in the coming months with Aymeric Laporte out injured. Kompany, however, is confident Pep Guardiola’s side will cope.

He said: “By losing Laporte you lose a big player. You need big players in the bigger games.

“I don’t see City weakening. Pep is way too aware of this danger to let it happen.”