"When I look at him, I don't see a man; I only see a snake", Toure described Guardiola on 4/12, when asked about his former coach at both Barca and Man City by French content creator Zack Nani on the YouTube program Zack en roue libre.

The relationship between Toure and Guardiola deteriorated in 2010, when the Catalan coach dropped the Ivorian midfielder from Barca to make way for Sergio Busquets, a young player recently promoted to the first team. Guardiola believed Busquets was more suitable for the defensive midfielder role in his renowned 4-3-3 formation. In his final season at Camp Nou, Toure played the full 90 minutes only 9 times before moving to Man City and excelling for eight years.

Guardiola instructed Toure during a training session at Barca. Photo: AP.

"That summer, he called me and said, 'You must stay, this is very important'", the 42-year-old former midfielder recounted after the 2009-2010 season. "My wife heard this and immediately said, 'Are you going to listen to that nonsense? He treated you worse than garbage, and now he wants you to stay, and you're actually going to stay? Let's go to Manchester!'"

"Throughout 2010, he didn't let me play. Then that summer, when I excelled at the World Cup, he called me back to Barca. My wife kept talking about him, saying, 'He's a devil, he's not human, he's evil'. She always had a negative view of him", Toure concluded, describing his relationship with Guardiola.

After leaving Barca for the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2010, fate brought Toure face-to-face with Guardiola again in 2016 when Man City's management invited him to join the club. Toure was once again relegated to the bench.

In Toure's final two seasons at Man City, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, his appearances across all competitions gradually decreased and were lower than all previous seasons, ranging from 31 to 17 matches. This led Toure's agent, Dimitri Seluk, to publicly criticize Guardiola. Seluk later apologized, but Guardiola's attitude remained unchanged. Toure left Man City in May 2018.

That same year, in an interview with French magazine France Football, the Ivorian midfielder, still angry and bitter, accused Guardiola of always having issues with Black African players, regardless of the club. "He always says there's no problem with Black players because he's too cunning to be caught out", Toure once stated. "But you can easily see it. I asked questions, but he never answered. One day, if he fields a starting lineup with 5 African players, not naturalized ones, I promise to give him a cake".

Toure followed Guardiola during a Man City training session. Photo: Reuters.

The inconsistency in Toure's current statements is that in 2021, he admitted his mistakes regarding his remarks about Guardiola, expressing regret. That year, through his revelations to The Athletic, the former player even stated that he had written an apology letter to Guardiola and Man City but had not received any response.

Toure retired in 2019, concluding a successful career with three Premier League titles, one of which was under Guardiola, two La Liga titles, one Champions League, and one Copa del Rey during his time at Barca, along with many other team honors. He also won the African Player of the Year award four consecutive times from 2011-2014, and the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

By Hoang Thong.