Yaya Toure is Wrong. Pep Guardiola Doesn’t Need the Champions League
Yaya Toure has taken a pop at his former coach Pep Guardiola - again. | Source: Reuters/Lee Smith.
- Yaya Toure has taken another pop at Pep Guardiola after Manchester City’s latest Champions League exit.
- Toure thinks Guardiola needs to win Europe’s biggest prize to be considered a success in Manchester.
- Toure’s wrong to dismiss Guardiola’s domestic achievements. Pep’s European drought has nothing to do with Lionel Messi.
Yaya Toure still has plenty to say about Pep Guardiola. The former Manchester City midfield linchpin has pelted his old boss for a continued failure to win the UEFA Champions League.
Speaking at a Hotels.com Dream Screen event (h/t MailOnline’s Daniel Matthews ), Toure said:
If this was Barcelona or maybe Real Madrid, for sure he’s going to be in trouble. It’s down to the board and what they’re going to decide to do with him.
For me, he’s up there in the class of Jurgen Klopp and Zinedine Zidane but it’s up to the club. I know City: they can have whatever manager they want because everybody knows they have got the money to do it.
People are finding a way to say he came just for the league — you cannot lie about that because the budget the club have been giving to him year after year, he needs to have the Champions League.
Toure has never been shy about criticizing Guardiola , but he’s completely wrong to claim Pep’s success with City depends on European silverware.
Domestic Success Makes Guardiola Bulletproof
City’s recent 3-1 defeat to Lyon in the last eight of the Champions League gave Toure the perfect opportunity to put the boot in. It was the third year running City crashed out at the quarter-final stage, but to suggest City move Guardiola on because of those failings is borderline ridiculous.
His domestic success makes the man in the City dugout immune from the sack. Guardiola hasn’t mixed the right brew for the Champions League, but he’s turned City into a powerhouse for the ages in England’s top flight.
In 2017/18, his second season in charge, Guardiola led City to the Premier League title with a record 100 points. The distinction made his squad England’s first “Centurions.”
Here’s every goal history-makers. Watch the video below:
More firsts followed during the 2018/19 campaign when City became the first team to win a domestic treble. They retained the league crown and Carabao Cup before adding the FA Cup for good measure.
Achievements like these are rare enough to warrant legendary status. Yet City’s reputation is amplified by the team’s style of play.
Guardiola has preached swashbuckling football based on quick passing, intelligent movement, and an insatiable appetite for goals, goals, and more goals.
The intent has rightly earned him plenty of plaudits:
There are still naysayers, though, those who believe Guardiola’s success is merely the product of extravagant spending. The ownership of Sheikh Mansour has extolled upon City financial resources even their closest rivals can’t match.
Guardiola hasn’t hesitated to spend the money, even if it hasn’t translated to success on the continent.
Messi Argument is Worthless
No player Guardiola has worked with can top the ability of Lionel Messi. Together they helped Barca lift Europe’s biggest prize in 2009 and ’11 before Guardiola’s continental drought began.
It’s become too easy to say Guardiola owes his reputation to Messi’s outrageous skills. It’s not as if Barca and their magic No. 10 have dominated the Champions League scene since Guardiola left the Camp Nou in 2012.
Toure has an axe to grind with Guardiola, but it’s more accurate to say Pep has been exceptional for City. His business in Europe is merely unfinished.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
