Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 7y

Vincent Kompany withdrawn right before Belgium kick off vs. Netherlands

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany pulled out of Belgium's 1-1 friendly draw with the Netherlands just minutes before kickoff on Wednesday.

The defender was named in the Red Devils' team, but he was replaced by Watford's Christian Kabasele when the teams lined up for the game in Amsterdam.

Reports in Belgium said that Kompany told team officials he didn't feel 100 percent right during the warm up for the game and he was withdrawn as a precaution.

Belgium manager Roberto Martinez said: "Kompany didn't feel okay after the warm up. He wasn't ready and we didn't take any risk."

The 30-year-old has been plagued by muscle injuries for the past three seasons and has started just three games for City this campaign, while not completing a full match.

His last performance for City was the EFL Cup defeat to Manchester United when he was taken off at half-time because he was tired.

Kompany has not played for his national team for over a year and missed the European Championships in the summer with a thigh strain that ruled him out for four months.

City boss Pep Guardiola revealed earlier this month that he did not play in the Champions League game against Barcelona because his "head was not right."

Kompany's muscle injuries in recent seasons saw him suffer five separate problems last campaign, which restricted him to just 20 starts from 59 games. He also played only 31 of his team's 51 matches in 2014-15.

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