Humility On Fleek: Yaya Toure Begged Lionel Messi Not To Embarrass Him In UCL Match

 

Yaya Toure talks about Lionel Messi

Yaya Toure has named Barcelona’s Lionel Messi as the best player he ever played with, and the best player he ever played against.

 

Yaya Toure talks about Lionel Messi

Toure, who played with Messi at the Camp Nou before leaving for Manchester City, also revealed that he had begged Messi not to dribble him when Barcelona met Manchester City in the Champions League last season.

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“The best player I have played with is Messi. I’ll tell you something, I once heard Patrice Evra and Carlos Tevez say that Cristiano Ronaldo works really hard, but Messi is different,” Toure said in an interview with former Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand.
“Messi is a genius. It’s natural. In training he’s simple. He’s very good with the ball. He’s always with the ball, but he never does anything crazy. He’s thinking about the game. He’s like Sergio Aguero, trying to do everything easy, trying to reserve himself for the game. Also like Carlos Tevez, you worked with him.”

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“One thing is what he does in training. In training you think you’re going to lose, but after in the game… it’s different. You can see the mentality of these guys. They are totally dedicated to the game. In training, they work, learn and try to maintain their form, but for them the game is everything.”
“Also Messi [was my toughest opponent]. We played against Barça in the last Champions League. In fact, we’ve played against them in the last two seasons. Last year in the dressing room he jokingly said he will nutmeg me. I saw him nutmeg two of my team-mates and thought he’d do it to me. Whenever he came near me I screamed inside ‘please not me, don’t nutmeg me’. I was afraid he’d embarrass me in front of my family.”