What is Yaya Toure’s curse? How does it stop Manchester City from winning Champions League?
Yaya Toure's curse has prevented Pep's City from winning a Champions League.
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What is the Yaya Toure curse (Images Via- Google)
Yaya Toure’s curse on Pep Guardiola and Manchester City by his then agent Dimitri Seluk is one of the most prominent curse stories in the world of football. Many say it to be one of the reasons as to why Manchester City never won the UCL under the reign of Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City, since the beginning of the curse in 2016, at most has reached the UCL finals in 2020-21 season of the tournament. Although they bottled their chance against another English giants Chelsea in the finals. Many fans state that the loss was due to the curse that Yaya Toure put on the club.
This year Man-City are already through to the Semi-finals and they would reportedly face Real Madrid. Pep and city would hope the team gets through to the finals an don’t hit a bump due to this famous curse.
The Yaya Toure’s curse?
When Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City, Yaya Toure was one of the club’s most important players. His peak had come in the 2013-14 season where he scored 20 goals in the Premier League en route to winning the PL title. However, winds of change blew under Guardiola.
While stalwarts like Joe Hart were discarded ruthlessly, Yaya Toure fell out of favour. Although he did play two seasons under Pep, the 2017/18 season was to be the nadir of his spell there. Toure made just one start in the league that season and he and his entourage were frustrated.
Angry at the course of events, his eccentric, now former agent, Dimitri Seluk, said he had “turned all Africa against himself” and that “African shamans in the future will not allow Guardiola to win the Champions League”.
And this, the Yaya Toure curse was born. As per Dimitri Selik, Manchester City were doomed to fail in the UEFA Champions League for Pep Guardiola’s treatment of Yaya Toure because African shamans would curse him.
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Is the curse actually real ?
Although Pep Guardiola has reportedly failed to win the Champions League. But it can hardly be attributed to a “curse” by the agent of an affronted player. On the other hand, there have been times where the Cityzens have got knocked out of the competition might make it a probable reality to some. It can be Raheem Sterling’s open goal miss against Lyon. Or City conceded two goals in injury time to Los Blancos last year. Manchester City has often looked, for the lack of a better term, “cursed” in the tournament.
Has the curse finally been lifted?
Manchester City have never looked closer to winning the Champions League than this season. With Erling Haaland rewriting record books on a seemingly weekly basis, they have torn through the competition. Their dominance has been so thorough, even Dimitri Seluk has apologized, going as far as to back City for a UCL win, and a potential treble.
Talking about the curse, Dimitri Seluk said, “I think City will win the Champions League under Pep. They have a good chance of winning it this year. But whatever happens, they will definitely win it in the next three years. Do you remember when I once criticized City for not giving Yaya a cake on his birthday? Well, it is my birthday this month and my present is for this curse to be ended. In fact, it is my hope that City wins the Treble”.
The ex-agent of Yaya Toure also apologized for his past behavior with the club as he said, “I want to apologise for this matter. I think it is time for this bitterness to stop. And I know that Yaya feels the same because he wishes nothing but success for City. I can say that the spell has been lifted by the shamans”.
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- Yaya Toure’s curse gets lifted from Manchester City, makes them the favorite to win Champions League
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Supratim Banerjee
(312 Articles Published)