The Barca team that won the treble in 2009, in Yaya Toure’s opinion, was good enough to compete with Pep Guardiola’s current Man City.

“The three best players in the world at the time were Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, and Samuel Eto’o. They were followed by Xavi, Andres Iniesta, myself, and Sergio Busquets. It was the ideal group, Toure told Sport. Mail on September 7.

“It will be a fair contest, but in my opinion, if Barca plays the current Man City in 2009, with their superstar lineup, they will win without a doubt.”

Toure (third from left, front row) in the 2009 Barca squad.

Toure came to Manchester City in 2010 because he was unable to contend for a midfield spot at Barcelona due to Pep Guardiola’s preference for Sergio Busquets. In this place, he assisted the Etihad Stadium club in winning the Premier League for the first time in the 2011–2012 season, followed by two additional championships in 2014 and 2018. Additionally, Toure has won the English Super Cup, two League Cups, and the FA Cup.

Being a member of the Barcelona team that year felt like a dream. Even our training sessions had a lot of tension. It was like that every day. Consider Iniesta at the age of 24. When Xavi was 28 years old, For those two players, it was their prime time, according to Toure.

Toure attended the final on June 9 at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, where Man City defeated Inter 1-0 to win the Champions League for the first time. This is an important turning point for the Etihad Stadium team. Even while he was playing, Toure was unable to do so, despite the fact that Man City had just begun to assert itself against more established, affluent teams like Man Utd and Liverpool.

“I foresaw this before. When I first went to Manchester City, I thought the team would one day be even better than Manchester United. Not many individuals at the time agreed with the assertion. Good players like David Silva and Sergio Aguero have not yet been added to the Man City roster. But even though it takes time, Man City is respected in the football community, according to the 40-year-old ex-midfielder.

Following his departure from the Chinese team Qingdao Huanghai in 2020, Toure did not participate in club play. He began serving as an assistant coach for the Olimpik Donetsk and Akhmat Grozny clubs in 2021. As the Tottenham U16 team’s head coach last year, Toure returned to England. However, the former midfielder moved to Belgium in June 2023 to serve as Standard Liege’s assistant coach after leaving Tottenham.