Will Yaya Toure come back to haunt Barcelona?

Yaya Toure: Key against Barcelona

“Anything but Barcelona. I would have preferred Bayern, Real Madrid or PSG. Anybody but Barca.”

That was Yaya Toure’s response when ESPN FC’s Roger Bennett made known to the Ivorian his preferred topic for discussion for their scheduled interview.

But it wasn’t a response made out of fear. After all, even though this is Manchester City’s first Champions League knockout round experience, Barcelona boss Tata Martino described this tie as the “tightest.” And that’s no mind game, as the Citizens’ domestic exploits prove they should be quite a handful for the Catalans over the course of the two legs.

Furthermore, Toure said in his pre-match press conference that in order for City to go on to become one of the best clubs in the world, they need to play teams of Barcelona’s calibre. So when he said in a whispered tone that he preferred any other big club but Barcelona, there was a different emotional meaning behind that statement.

The fact that he spent three trophy-filled seasons there prior to his move to England surely has something to do with it. This is a conflict of interest. He finds himself in a position where he could hold the key for his side in a battle that will surely revolve around the midfield. Which role he plays in it, however, remains to be seen.

“People who know me well understand I like to go forward and want to be able to run the ball up the field,” he told Bennett. “For me, that’s who I really think I am: a player who touches the ball a lot, because when you do that, you have this importance to your team, and for me, that is what is amazing.”

Manuel Pellegrini certainly agrees.

“I have listened to some questions about the way he plays, and Yaya plays the way I want him to play,” he said ahead of the big match. ”He stayed only defending against Norwich because we did not have another defensive midfielder, but I think we lost an important midfielder attacking. He scores a lot of goals and gives a lot of creativity to our team.

“Playing with Javi Garcia or Fernandinho is the way I want him to play, so he is free and can give us a lot of offensive moments.”

It’s a role he didn’t have at his former club. “Barcelona was about discipline and trying to learn how to read the opponent and [launch] the counter-attack,” Toure explained. “I was mostly on the defensive side.”

On the other end at City, he has thrived. Twelve goals and four assists in his 24 league appearances so far this season certainly proves that. But heading into this game, it looked as though Toure was set to relive the restricted role of his Barcelona days.

Pellegrini initially said that he would play deeper here, due to the absence of Fernandinho thanks to a muscle strain. But the Brazilian has now returned to training and is in the squad for the game. Should he start, Toure would be afforded the opportunity to show his former side the part of his game that has seen him grow into one of the Premier League’s and even the world’s finest central midfielders. And Pellegrini has outlined his intention to confront Barcelona in a way that should see Toure thrive.

“We are not going to play just thinking of defending and not thinking of what we can do with the ball,” he said. City have attacked their opponents relentlessly under the Chilean this season. As a result, they’ve scored more league goals (68) than all but one team (Barcelona) across Europe’s top five leagues, and only Real Madrid (20) have bettered their tally of 18 in the Champions League.

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Toure has thrived in this system as a result of his sheer power and athleticism. With Fernandinho covering him, he has been afforded complete freedom to break forward with the ball into attacking positions. No doubt he will look to do that against a Barcelona side that is far more technical than powerful. Given the away side is averaging the joint most possession per game (62%) in the competition, however, he’ll have to ensure that he makes the most of whatever opportunities he gets.

He says he doesn’t have a point to prove to his former side, and that it was the right time to move on. He’ll be hoping that “move on” is just what his current team does when the tie is done and dusted, and that he would’ve played an influential role going forward to help them do so.