Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has disown his agent’s comments about him placing a champions League curse on coach Pep Guardiola.
Dimitri Seluk had claimed in 2018 that Toure put a curse on Guardiola hence his failure to win the champions league title after leaving Barcelona. Guardiola whose team will face Real Madrid in first leg of the Semi-Final on Tuesday at the Bernabeu has failed to win the title after Barcelona. According to Seluk it was Toure who put an ‘African curse’ on Guardiola after they fell-out at City.
Guardiola won the competition twice in three seasons with Barcelona – the second of which was in 2011 – but failed to lift it with Bayern Munich. The closest he came was in 2021, when City got to the final but were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea in an all-English final in Porto.
Toure played under Guardiola at Barcelona and then at City for two seasons but was benched by the Catalan and made just one Premier League start in the 2017/18 campaign.
Speaking to The Mirror of Uk Seluk claimed that the curse on Guardiola has been lifted
“I want to apologise for this matter,” he told The Mirror.
“I think it is time for this bitterness to stop – and I know that Yaya feels the same because he wishes nothing but success for City.
“I can say that the spell has now been lifted by the shamans – and that I think City will win the Champions League under Pep.
“They have a good chance of winning it this year. But whatever happens they will definitely win it in the next three years.
“Do you remember when I once criticised City for not giving Yaya a cake on his birthday?
“Well it is my birthday this month and my present is for this curse to be ended. In fact, it is my hope that City win the Treble this season.”
However, writing on Twitter Monday Toure who is now an academy coach at Tottenham said: “My former agent being quoted by the media about a ‘curse’. Please don’t associate me with this nonsense and lazy stereotypes about African curses!
“Media… move on please. This man does not represent me in any way. Amplifying these stereotypes is harmful.”