TOURE EYES FINAL WAVE OF EURO JOY
YAYA TOURE has set his sights on bringing down the curtain on his Manchester City career by winning the Champions League.
The Ivory Coast midfielder can lay claim to being the greatest player in City’s history after helping the Blues win two Premier League titles, the FA Cup and two League Cups.
But the 34-year-old has unfinished business in Europe.
And he now wants to take the Champions League back to the Etihad before his eightyear stint with the club comes to an end.
Toure, a European champions with Barcelona in 2009, said: “I want the Champions League again – so badly.
“I have won everything in England with City – and now I want something that is really special for the fans and the club.
“I have been lucky enough to win some important trophies for my clubs and also Ivory Coast.
“But the Champions League is special.
“To be happy, I really need to win it again.”
City reached the Champions League semi-finals two years ago before losing 1-0 on aggregate to Real Madrid.
Last season, they crashed out in the last 16 on away goals despite beating Monaco 5-3 in the first leg.
Toure said: “I can see the progress the team has made. At the moment, we are doing very well against some good European teams.
“But the big tests are the big teams like Barca, Madrid, Juventus, Bayern and Paris.
“We are one of the top teams now – but we have to prove it.
“I am very excited because we want to play Madrid and Barca to show where we are.
“It is so hard to predict who will win it because all the teams have great quality.”
City’s progress towards the knock-out stages has been serene so far this season, with victories over Feyenoord, Shakhtar Donetsk and Napoli.
But they face a tough examination on Wednesday night when they travel to Naples to face the Serie A leaders – who beat them 2-1 in when they were eliminated in the group stages in 2011.
And he admitted: “Playing in Napoli is horrible. It is so, so difficult for the opponent because the fans there are so good.
“The stadium is massive and the atmosphere is very intense.
“But I think we can play a good game like the one in Manchester.
“They came here and made it very difficult in the end, but I think we have a team that might be more dangerous away from home.
“When teams attack us we can make the most of the space they leave at the back.
“With players of the speed of Raheem, Sane and Aguero we can attack the space.”