Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini bites back over wayward striker Carlos Tevez's comments "The manager is a very forgiving person and he was willing to open the door again for Carlos - if he said sorry," a source close to the manager revealed. But he was hurt by what was said in the interview - a lot of the staff were hurt by it. Mancini's position reflects the club's tough stance that Tévez has returned to Manchester on their terms rather than his own, and their stance has been unaltered since September when the striker was told he would not play until he offered a full apology. Tévez has received some support from his team-mates, and midfielder James Milner insisted the circus of the ongoing dispute between player and club will have no impact on the morale of the dressing room. "I don't really understand the difficulties," Milner said. We just carry on playing football. There are more people stood outside the training ground but, to us, we just go out there and work hard every day in training and concentrate on the next game coming up like we have done all year. Our focus is on the games. That's the only thing we can control and the only thing we'll try and do is go out there and try to win football matches. While the period of Mancini indulging Tévez is clearly over, the manager is still taking a more paternal approach to his other problem striker, Mario Balotelli. After a four-game domestic ban, the 21 year-old is back in the squad and expected to play in the Estádio do Dragão, but he will return with a warning from his manager. Thursday night's Turkish referee, Cuneyt Cakir, dismissed Balotelli in the last-16 Europa League tie with Dinamo Kiev a year ago. In 49 games for City, the youngster has received four red cards (one issued retrospectively) and 17 bookings. "I have spoken to Mario," Mancini said. "I said: "Please, we have 13 games to play in the Europa League so try to have good behaviour on the pitch and think to only play football." Mario is an important player for us, he has a good quality. He can play with Edin [Dzeko], with Sergio [Agüero]. I think if his head will be OK in the next two months, he will be an important player. It's difficult to find a good definition for him. We know that Mario is a fantastic player. He's young, sometimes he will do some mistakes, but for this reason if he can keep his composure for the next months, he will be an important player for us, in the Europa League and the Premier League. A fit and available Balotelli will lessen the need for Mancini to turn to Tévez due to any potential striker shortage. "It's my opinion that at this moment all the players will be important," Mancini said. It's important for me to have all players between now and end of the season. If we want to get to the final of The Europa League or win the Premier League it is important to have all players ready and available for all games. Mario is one of them. Now we'll have three strikers for tomorrow, I think that's a good thing for me and for this game.