Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has become the latest to criticise Barcelona’s manager Pep Guardiola. Guardiola has been recently criticised by his former player Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now at AC Milan, for being partial towards some of these players. It has been revealed that Guardiola likes to play with Lionel Messi, Iniesta, and Xavi. They are the players whom Guardiola has either brought up from the academy or played alongside as in the case of Xavi. Now, Yaya Toure has criticised Guardiola by saying that the Barcelona manager has a cold attitude towards players he does not like. It comes as a dampening statement just as Barcelona are struggling in the league.
Now, the famous rift has different between Lionel Messi and new signing David Villa. It has been reported in various quarters that the attitude of Guardiola towards Lionel Messi and David Villa is responsible for the rift between the two players. The statements by Yaya Toure seem to add fuel to the fire. Yaya Toure has backed up his statements by saying that Roberto Mancini is a much better manager because he tries to criticise his players without hurting them. Speaking to a French paper, Yaya Toure said, “Mancini is closer to his players. He talks more than Guardiola. He calls you into his office and holds a quite talk with you, listening more to what you’ve got to say. On the other hand, Guardiola waits for moments of pressure to get closer to you. It is much of a wrong attitude, I feel.”
Yaya Toure also claimed that he did not have the wish to go away from Barcelona, but in the end had to be pushed out. However, he said that he has no regrets about joining Manchester City, who are expected to become the major force in world football.