Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has backed Carlos Tevez after the Argentinian striker apparently refused to play in Manchester City’s Champions League tie against Bayern Leverkusen on Tuesday.

Tevez, who made his desire to leave Manchester City apparent this summer, was a substitute for the 2-0 defeat, but appeared to refuse to come on when manager Roberto Mancini asked him to replace Edin Dzeko after 55 minutes at the Allianz Arena.

The Italian manager insisted afterwards that Tevez would never play for the club again, however since then the former Manchester United player issued a statement denying the allegation that he refused to play, describing the incident as a “misunderstanding”.

Scholes was in the dock with United boss Sir Alex Ferguson during his playing career after he refused to play in a mid-week Carling Cup tie in 2001 having been dropped for the previous Premier League encounter against Liverpool.

“I know Carlos quite well. He’s a player who wants to be playing,” Scholes told the BBC.

“When he’s a sub, it will be killing him. It’s totally up to the manager but Carlos wouldn’t have been thinking that. He’ll be thinking, ‘The manager is against me, why is he not bringing me on? I’m City’s best player and he’s not playing me’.

“I’m not saying he [Tevez] is right – it’s totally up to the manager.” He added.

Tevez’s future at the club has been in doubt for some time after he asked to leave in July, stating a need to be closer to his family as the main reason.

He had been linked with a move to Inter Milan and Corinthians before the season got underway, but neither club could afford his £200,000 a week wages, meaning he has been forced to watch most of City’s games from the bench because of the arrival of the likes of Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri having been stripped of the club captaincy.

Scholes admitted he “regretted” refusing to play in the interview, and compared his experience to Tevez’s.

“You think you should be playing and my head was all over the place. I thought he [Ferguson] was messing me about, wrongly really. It’s up to him what he does with his team.” He commented.

“I realise it was stupid. I let the manager down and it was something I regretted. It’s probably similar to Carlos Tevez’s state of mind if it is true he refused to come on.”