Yaya Toure opens up on Pep Guardiola feud after earlier suggesting Manchester City boss has 'problems with Africans'
Manchester City legend Yaya Toure has opened up about his tiff with Pep Guardiola, revealing that he is prepared to sit down and talk it out.
In a 2018 interview with France Football magazine, the Ivorian footballer alleged that Guardiola did not like African players. Last year, he told Sportsmail that he had penned a letter to his former manager to put an end to their feud but never heard back.
In his latest chat with the Daily Mail, Toure has revisited the topic, inviting the Manchester City boss to come to the table and have a good old heart-to-heart.
“I would be more than happy to talk with him,” the Tottenham Hotspur Under-16’s manager said.
“I'm on a different pathway now. I will be someone who tries to understand my players, different cultures and footballers, bringing them together to make a team. I will become a manager one day.”
In his explosive 2018 interview, Toure said that he would send Guardiola a cake if he ever fielded a team with five African players.
“(Guardiola) insists he has no problems with black players, because he is too intelligent to be caught out,” he said.
“But when you realize that he has problems with Africans, wherever he goes, I ask myself questions. He will never admit it. But the day he will line up a team in which we find five Africans, not naturalized, I promise I will send him a cake.”
Toure has since tried to apologize to the manager for his harsh remarks but has not been successful in his endeavors.
Kevin De Bruyne leads the charge as Manchester City down Liverpool in Carabao Cup
Manchester City inflicted a 3-2 defeat upon defending Carabao Cup champions Liverpool in their highly-anticipated fourth-round meeting at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night (22 December). Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez, and Nathaniel Ake netted for Manchester City, while Fabio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah scored for Liverpool.
The team’s heartbeat Kevin De Bruyne ran the show from the middle of the park. In the 10th minute, he sent a low cross into the Liverpool box. Haaland latched onto it and found the bottom-left corner with a confident strike. De Bruyne then assisted Ake’s 58th-minute winner, delivering a teasing cross into the area for the defender to head in.
The Belgian maestro, who endured a disappointing group-stage exit at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, played a game-high five key passes. He also created two big chances, completed a dribble, and won three ground duels.