‘Yaya must apologise’
LONDON: Yaya Toure, who has announced his international retirement, will not play for Manchester City again until he apologises to the club for comments made by his agent, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said yesterday.
The 33-year-old Ivory Coast midfielder’s agent, Dimitri Seluk, had said Toure felt ‘humiliated’ by Guardiola after being left out of City’s Champions League squad.
‘If he doesn’t (apologise), he won’t play,’ Guardiola said. ‘It was difficult to leave him out of the Champions League squad but (the) day after, his (agent) went to the media. (Toure) has not had the courage to call me. From that moment he was out.’
Four-time African footballer of the year Toure, capped 102 times, including appearances in three World Cup finals, said the decision to retire from international football had been incredibly difficult.
‘Writing this note was probably the most difficult match of my life,’ wrote Toure, who faces a pretty light season as he is out of favour at City.
‘After 14 years at the highest level, I’m sure this is the right time for me! The fact that I am 33 now, the intensity of training and the multitude of games are not the reasons why I am making this decision.’
Toure, part of the golden generation of Ivory Coast players such as Didier Drogba, his brother Kolo Toure and Gervinho, said for all his success at club level, including a Champions League with Barcelona in 2009, it was finally winning the Africa Cup of Nations last year – their first since 1992 – that remained his most precious memory.
‘With the Elephants, it was even more special. I learned to win for my country. That’s why I will always retain the pride in having achieved four African Golden Balls for the Ivory Coast,’ he said. – SuperSport-Reuters
away his notebook in disgust, was frustrated by the chances City missed with Pirates there for the taking.
The Capetonians would have taken a point if you had asked them before the match, but when three points were there for the taking they let themselves down.
It was a wake-up call that Pirates needed. Despite their good start, beating Arrows and Ajax Cape Town, there were cracks that showed that they aren’t the finished product just yet.
But when you’re winning, there isn’t much time to reflect. They need to do that this week before they return to the venue of their only defeat this season, Milpark, where they will take on Wits on Saturday.