The Manchester City captain returned from his latest injury set-back in Sunday's clash against Tottenham, and despite defeat he was visibly happy to be back on the pitch
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany is clearly delighted to be fit again after missing much of the season so far with persistent calf injuries.
Kompany has sat out 26 of City's 39 matches in all competitions during the current campaign, but returned against Tottenham on Sunday having "worked more than anyone" in a bid to put his injury trouble behind him.
The Belgium skipper released an emotional statement after being forced off the pitch just nine minutes into his previous comeback - against Sunderland on Boxing Day - insisting that he would "fight to get what I deserve, my best years in football."
And although he was disappointed to have lost 2-1 against title rivals Spurs at the Etihad Stadium, the centre-back was visibly upbeat at having played the full 90 minutes after such a difficult period in his career.
"I feel great," he told reporters. "I’ve worked extremely hard. There’s always that part that people don’t see, the things you do behind the scenes, and for me it’s been grafting and just making sure I get the most out of the rest of this season and the rest of my years where I can be at my top.
"So physically I feel good, although I’ve got to be honest the last five minutes I was blowing a little bit. I would’ve liked the result, of course, that was the main thing today."
Kompany also put up a staunch defence of his approach and vowed to overcome the problems that have curtailed his season, and have even lead to suggestions that his City future could be in doubt as the expected Pep Guardiola overhaul looms on the horizon.
Asked whether he has found it difficult to watch from the sidelines in recent months, he replied: "I pay more attention, obviously there’s a little bit of frustration but I try to learn from the game.
"I’ll watch the games, I’ll do my assessments of what went well or what we wrong." Without missing a beat, however, he quickly added that he will be in control of his own destiny: "I definitely won’t let anybody decide for me when I’m going to come back or not. I decide when I come back stronger, I work more than anyone else to make sure that I do that and people who know me are not worried.
"The only thing is I want to achieve greatness, like anyone else in this industry, and I want to be allowed to just play all the games, like today. We didn’t win but I enjoyed. But nothing will break me."
That determination shone through in Kompany's verdict on the defeat against Spurs, a potentially damaging result in the scheme of the title race but one which, nevertheless, leaves City still just six points off top spot given Leicester City's earlier defeat at Arsenal.
In securing their two Premier League titles in 2011-12 and 2013-14, City had to overturn bigger points deficits and at later stages in the season, and Kompany believes they are more than capable of turning their fortunes around once more.
"We’re obviously disappointed with the result but if you look at the game – obviously Tottenham played well, let me make it clear – but you’re looking for a lot of chances from Tottenham, and there’s not been many.
"You’re looking for a moment when we didn’t look stable, [but] I thought we looked pretty solid, and it's really disappointing to concede two goals from two or three chances. Other than that we need to take some positives out of this performance and nobody is allowed to give up on anything.
"It’s a set-back, but we wouldn’t know our personal history well if we didn’t expect to kick on from here."
- Goal