Fernandinho plays down Kompany bust-up

Fernandinho has insisted his alleged bust-up with Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany was nothing more than a conversation.

Nothing in it ... Fernandinho denies any rift with his skipper, Vincent Kompany (AAP) Source: AAP

The pair were rumoured to have had a row at half-time during the defeat by Liverpool last month.

City was this week forced to deny that was the reason neither was in the starting line-up against Leicester City three days later, with Kompany on the bench and Fernandinho not in the squad.

But the midfielder told the Manchester Evening News that was because he had a calf injury and was unwell, and insisted the incident had been blown out of all proportion.

He said: "I have seen a few things about this, and people are creating and telling stories, even though it didn't happen that way.

"Every player in every team speaks to each other in order to improve the quality on the pitch - that communication is necessary. You have to talk, and that is what happened.

"There was a conversation, and not much more than that. I don't know why people actually thought there was a fight - we spoke about how we could improve things in that match.

"I don't have anything bad to say about Vinny - he is a great player, a great team member, and I have always liked him. It's very weird that this story actually came up, for something so small to suddenly become so big.

"It was nothing major. There were other people around us, and you have to raise your voice a little bit. There was no fight, just a conversation.

"Myself and Vinny spoke about it that day, and everything was settled on that day, finished."

Kompany and Fernandinho could both be in the side for Saturday's (Sunday AEDT) English Premier League trip to Burnley.