YAYA TOURE They say I fought with Mario but it’s just not true. He is not my friend, he is my brother and I love him.
EXCLUSIVE
IT’S Saturday afternoon at a demoralised Etihad Stadium and Mario Balotelli and Aleksandar Kolarov are arguing over who should take a free-kick.
On that night’s television highlights, the watching world is given an insight into title-chasing Manchester City’s pain.
Four days later, City’s Yaya Toure shakes his head slowly.
‘When you see it on the TV, it’s difficult,’ said the former Barcelona midfielder.
‘The players have the determination to make the club great but people don’t realise what it’s like. We are losing 3-1 to Sunderland and time is running out.
‘What you see on the pitch isn’t men behaving normally. The next day, during massage, you see Mario and Kolarov discussing it and laughing. But in the game you are so nervous. You are losing face in your own stadium, in front of your own fans. The players are young.
‘The stress and frustration builds up and these things happen. But afterwards they talk and it’s OK. This is the part that the TV cameras don’t see.’
Watch the footage again and you see Toure arrive late on the scene.
He recalled: ‘I went to Mario and said, “You have to calm down. We are on the field. All the people are looking at you”. It’s difficult because Mario is a guy who, if he wants to do something, he will do it. But he has to listen more.’
Balotelli is the reason we spoke — entirely at Toure’s behest — at City’s training ground yesterday. Toure wanted to address suggestions that he and the young Italian confronted each other at half-time at the weekend. ‘They said I fought with Mario at Swansea and against Sunderland,’ he said quietly. ‘ That shocked me. My lawyers called me about this and it was the first I knew about it.
‘It’s just not true. It didn’t happen. I am a footballer, not a boxer. People don’t know my relationship with Mario. He’s not my friend, he’s my brother and I love him.
‘To say we had a fight is very sad. It upset me and I feel sorry for Mario. He suffers most from these things.
‘At half-time against Sunderland it was very difficult. We are trying to win the League and are losing 2-1. It’s not good. But everybody was quiet. We were just looking at each other, trying to find a way to turn the result.
‘ But I didn’t even talk to Mario. The next day he sent me a text message saying, “Apparently we had a fight”. I just want to stop people writing and thinking that.’
Toure is in his second season in i the Barclays Premier League, the t competition he came to England from Barca in July 2010 to win.
With City now trailing leaders Manchester United by five points — and facing the possibility of falling a further three behind before they play again on Sunday — it looks as though the sky blue comet that once blazed such a trail may be about to burn out.
‘Form changes because the Premier League is strong and the season very long,’ said Toure. ‘In Spain you can tell with 15 games left who will win the League. It’s not like that here.
‘It’s difficult at the moment as lots of bad things have happened to us recently. We have had some games when we have looked tired and have looked like a very poor team.
‘Sometimes we have done things wrong on the pitch because we haven’t worked well on the training ground.
‘It will be hard for us now as our fixtures are very hard but we must not let ourselves down.
‘We must fight for our manager Roberto Mancini, but also for the club because the club has invested a lot.
‘We have to be realists. We have to win something this year as we have a fantastic squad. To win nothing isn’t acceptable. But I am keeping my confidence.
‘I am sure we can give Manchester United the right fight. It’s not finished yet.’
City travel to Arsenal on Sunday knowing they must win if they are to have any chance of United still being in sight when the teams meet at the Etihad on April 30. Toure’s contribution will certainly be pivotal in north London.
His friend Balotelli, meanwhile, is unlikely to start and Mancini is now known to be considering the striker’s future at the club.
‘The decision is down to the club,’ said Toure. ‘But I want him to stay. He will have more experience in the future and get more things right. All the time I talk to Mario. We are close.
‘ I don’t know what goes through his mind sometimes and I do get upset when he does something wrong. He has to understand he plays for Manchester City and he has to be professional.
‘When I saw he had gone to a press conference recently at
Inter Milan I was quite shocked. He shouldn’t do that. He told me later he had friends there and wanted to see them. I understand that.
‘When I go to Barcelona I go to meet people. I go to Eric Abidal’s house because he needs me. But it’s all private and it has to be that way.
‘Mario is a fantastic player and person but his big fault is in his character and behaviour with people. We talk about that.’
It is not unusual to hear footballers say nice things about each other. Sometimes they mean them. Sometimes they don’t.
As far as Toure and Balotelli are concerned, though, an unlikely travel destination may serve to cement the bond this summer.
‘ We have decided to go together to Africa, to Ghana,’ revealed Toure.
‘He is very keen to see Africa and wants to go with me. He has family in Ghana but is quite afraid of going on his own.
‘He knows nothing about what it’s like there. So he asked me to help.
‘This is the thing about Mario. He thinks a lot of good things, like this.
‘And in his mind he does things that he thinks are good. The problem is that some of them just look very bad.’
i.ladyman@dailymail.co.uk