Yaya Toure boldly declares: “Barcelona’s majestic 2009 squad reigns supreme over today’s Manchester City!”

According to former midfielder Yaya Toure, the 2009 treble-winning Barca squad is enough to defeat Pep Guardiola’s current Man City.

“Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o were all once the best players in the world. Behind them are Xavi and Andres Iniesta, then me and Sergio Busquets. It’s a perfect team,” Toure said on Sport. Mail dated July 9. “It will be an even competition, but in my opinion, Barca in 2009, with the combination of superstars, will definitely win if they play against current Man City.”

Toure (third from left, standing) in the Barca squad in 2009. Photo: AFP

Toure played for Barca from 2007 to 2010, as a midfielder. He started as a central defender in the 2008-2009 Champions League final, when Barca defeated Man Utd 2-0. The former Ivory Coast player also won two La Liga, one King’s Cup, one Spanish Super Cup, one European Super Cup and one Club World Cup.

In 2010, due to not being able to compete for a position in midfield due to Pep Guardiola’s preference for Sergio Busquets, Toure moved to Man City. Here, he helped the Etihad Stadium team win the Premier League for the first time in the 2011-2012 season and then won two more crowns in 2014 and 2018. Toure also won an FA Cup, two League Cups and an English Super Cup.

“Participating in the Barca squad that year was like a dream. Even our training sessions were extremely stressful. Every day was the same. Imagine Iniesta at 26, 27 years old. Xavi at 28 years old … That was the peak of those two players,” Toure said.

On June 9, Toure was present at Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey to watch the final match, where Man City won 1-0 against Inter, thereby winning the Champions League for the first time . This is a historic milestone for the home team at Etihad Stadium. Even Toure could not achieve it when he was still playing, although at that time, Man City emerged as a force to compete with traditional clubs like Man Utd or Liverpool.

“I predicted this before. When I moved to Man City, I believed that one day, the club would become great, even surpass Man Utd. At that time, not many people believed in that statement. Man City Nor have they recruited good players like Sergio Aguero or David Silva. However, even though it takes time, Man City has received respect in the football world,” the 40-year-old former midfielder expressed.

Toure does not play at the club level after leaving Chinese team Qingdao Huanghai in 2020. From 2021, he started working as an assistant coach at the teams Olimpik Donetsk and Akhmat Grozny. Last season, Toure returned to England to coach the U16 Tottenham team. But from June 2023, this former midfielder left Tottenham to go to Belgium to work as deputy coach at Standard Liege.