Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has finally spoken up against reports that he placed a curse on Pep Guardiola, which makes the City manager unable to win the Champions League with the club.
Despite enjoying domestic success, Guardiola and City have failed to win the biggest of them all–the Champions League trophy, coming tantalisingly close two seasons ago but eventually falling to Chelsea.
This is despite their wealth of resources and the experience of Guardiola, a two-time Champions League winner with Barcelona.
Amidst all these, a viral story claimed that former City captain Yaya Toure is responsible for the club’s inability to enjoy European success. According to the story, the Ivorian placed an African curse on the Spanish coach.
The claim was made by Yaya Toure’s former agent Dimitri Seluk three years ago.
“I’m sure that many African shamans will not let Guardiola win the Champions League in the future. It will be like an African curse on Guardiola,” he said.
Seluk was speaking about Toure’s acrimonious exit and blamed Pep for the way he mistreated Yaya.
However, the former Barca midfielder has finally broken the silence surrounding the story. Toure distanced himself from the claim and asked the media to stop associating him with ‘lazy African stereotypes’.
“My former agent is 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,” he wrote on social media.
My former agent is 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.
— Yaya Touré (@YayaToure) May 8, 2023
The former Ivory Coast international must have been fed up hearing the same story every year and decided to act. While he may still be nursing some resentment for Guardiola, he will probably wish the Cityzens will finally win the UCL title this season and prove those people who accept the story wrong.
Pep Guardiola and City are back in Champions League football this Tuesday when they travel to Santiago Bernabeu to face defending champions Real Madrid in the semifinals.
