ROBERTO MANCINI says skipper Vincent Kompany has only an outside chance of recovering from another calf injury in time for Monday's trip to Aston Villa.
The Belgian centre-back was injured in the FA Cup win at Stoke five weeks ago and has since injured his other calf as well.
And the City boss feels the game at Villa Park is likely to come too soon. He said: "Vinnie is getting better. We hope we can recover him for the next game on Monday but it is difficult. He did not train with the team."
City's stand-in skipper and pals Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez regularly chat over a flask of mate — a speciality tea from their native Argentina.
Zabaleta admits their favourite drink causes a stir among their team-mates because one of the ingredients looks like marijuana.
But whatever is in it, it must be working as all three have played a key role in City's success over the past four years.
"The three of us have it when we're going away. Joe Hart looks and says, 'What are you drinking?' It's strange for them."
He admitted: "It's not a nice flavour, it's very harsh. It's hot water, then you put herbs in — but it looks like marijuana!
"I drank it outside in Barcelona where the weather is nice but you can't drink mate outside here! It's really cold here — and people think it really is marijuana."
But the Barclays Premier League champions could be 15 points behind leaders Manchester United by the time they face Aston Villa on Monday.
"Probably this season has been my best since I signed in 2008. But I always put the word team in front of my own performances.
"We accept we should have done better than we have this season. We were out of the Champions League at the group stage again and we wanted to be closer to United.
PABLO ZABALETA was speaking on behalf of Barclays Ticket Office. Every 90 minutes throughout the season, Barclays is offering fans the chance to win free tickets to Barclays Premier League matches by going to a Barclays ATM and requesting a receipt, or by visiting www.barclaysticketoffice.co.uk
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