WARRIOR ZABA

CITY WOMEN CLAIM TREBLE TRIUMPH /PAGE 44

VINCENT Kompany has paid the ultimate tribute to departing Pablo Zabaleta – as the man you would want alongside you in a war.

The City full-back will leave the club at the end of the season, and will say a bittersweet farewell to the fans after the final home game of the season against West Brom tomorrow night.

And skipper Kompany, who has literally had Zabaleta as his righthand man in the City defence for the past seven years, said: “Zaba will always be remembered for his tackles and I think that’s what he wants.

“His tackles, his headers and the timings of his runs - he has always been impeccable and been able to put himself into positions where he could affect the game maybe his biggest quality was not to dribble past three or four men but he got there and got the crosses in.

“I’d add one more thing. His presence in big games - even when you’re losing - there’s always a few players you know are going to put in a good performance even when you don’t always get on the right end of it.

“And he was always one of them.

“If you need to go to war in the big games, you know you’ve got Zaba with you.”

Pep Guardiola has retained his belief in Zabaleta until the end, starting him in the recent derby, and putting him on as a sub in the last two matches to help see the game out.

Said Kompany: “He epitomises what the fans have loved about City for so many years even before our era.

“He’s tough, he gets into challenges where usually he has no right to win them, but he gets out on the winning end.

“More than anything it’s his passion and his commitment to the club.

“He’s an exceptional professional and someone who has been extremely reliable.

“His timings of his runs, the reading of the game and I think he’ll always be remembered for all his cuts and bruises.

“We used to play with ten men for about five minutes per game at some stage because he’d need to go off for treatment!

“He’s everything a City legend needs to represent.”