Asked if Liverpool had made a mistake by deciding to wear T-shirts in support of Suarez, before the club's game at Wigan Athletic on the night an FA regulatory commission found him guilty, Mancini nodded in the affirmative. "Maybe, maybe this," he said.
Mancini said that he had experienced similar problems with racism in his last year in Italy, in 2007/08 - a season when Mario Balotelli was racially abused by Juventus.
Though privately, some within Liverpool agree with Mancini that a rapid, diplomatic apology for any damage done by Suarez might have prevented the furore which has damaged Liverpool, his comments are unlikely to be welcomed and they will probably earn him opprobrium. The issue has created such tribalism that the "comment" option on some Independent website articles has been withdrawn out of necessity in recent weeks.
But Mancini has a habit of speaking on any topic put to him and he certainly demonstrated an appreciation of the kind of pressures Suarez was up against that day, when his spat with Patrice Evra began with the Frenchman's abusive Spanish term "concha de tu hermana," which translates as a term of abuse for the Uruguayan's sister.
Mancini said he had experienced "everything in 20 years, everything [on a football pitch.] I didn't cry for this on the pitch because I repeat that on the pitch everything can happen because you don't think, because you are tired, because you are stupid, you are young, or many reasons."
Asked about the worst abuse he had delivered, Mancini said: "I said some things but not important things like racist words."
Mancini, who is likely to be missing David Silva for tonight's first leg because of a long-standing ankle problem, was furious to learn that the Football Association had rejected the appeal against Vincent Kompany's four-game ban after his dismissal against Manchester United. He may not go into the transfer market this month, with Stefan Savic and Joleon Lescott set to hold the fort amid Kolo Toure's absence at the African Cup of Nations, and provided an indication that his call for another new signing had not gone down well at City.
"Every time that I talk about this I have a problem ... but I [do not] want to criticise the club," Mancini said. "If we don't have a central defender we play with young players. I can do nothing." Mancini is set to have Mario Balotelli back tonight, with Edin Dzeko on the bench.
The City manager is unhappy about the comments of Sir Alex Ferguson, who suggested Kompany has previous for two-footed challenges. "In 30 years I have never seen a sending-off for a tackle like this," Mancini said. "I watched last week three or four players in the League did tackles worse than Vinnie and with the same referee [Chris Foy]. He did nothing, no yellow card."
Mancini, who accused Wayne Rooney of waving an imaginary red card to influence Foy's decision, admitted he had waved one when Martin Skrtel conceded a penalty in last week's 3-0 defeat of Liverpool. "Yeah, I did it. All the people say apologise, because in England we don't do this, so I apologised but it is normal because there was a red card for Gareth Barry for nothing."
- THE INDEPENDENT
