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Football

10th Jun 2018

Pep Guardiola responds to accusations from Yaya Touré that he ‘has a problem with African players’

He has dismissed all of Touré's accusations

Reuben Pinder

You’ll be shocked to hear that he has denied the accusations

After bidding farewell to Manchester City as a club legend, Yaya Touré recently launched a scathing attack on Pep Guardiola, claiming that the City boss ‘has a problem with African players’.

Pep Guardiola has dismissed Touré’s claims as “lies.” Speaking to Catalan TV station TV3, he said:

“They were lies and he knows it.

“We were together for two years and he says it now — he never told me to my face.”

Guardiola’s response comes after Touré made accusations in an interview with France Football. The Ivorian said: “It feels like he was jealous of me, he saw me as a rival… as if I was taking the limelight away from him.

“He was cruel with me. Do you really think he could’ve been like that with Iniesta?”

Touré continued, citing his ethnicity as the prime factor behind Pep’s treatment of him during their time together at Barcelona and Manchester City.

“It got to the point I asked myself if it was because of my colour.

“I’m not the first, other Barca players asked the question too. Maybe us Africans aren’t always treated the same by certain people.

“When you see the problems he [Pep] has often had with African players, everywhere he has been, I ask myself questions.

“He’s too intelligent to be caught. He’ll never admit it [not liking Africans].

“But the day he picks a team with five Africans in, I promise I will send him a cake!”