Forgotten Man Yaya Toure Heaps Praise Upon Teammates & Claims Man City Are the Best in Europe

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has crowned his side the best in Europe on current form, citing their footballing style as second to none so far this season.

According to the Daily Mirror, the former midfield rock (now perennial bench-warmer) was convinced of his side's European credentials, when speaking ahead of their Champions League fixture with Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. 

The linguistically talented Touré, fielding questions in Russian when called upon (a benefit of his time with Metalurh Donetsk), held nothing back when praising his teammates, proclaiming: “I think we have very good players. To be honest, I think we practise the best football in Europe at the minute.

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As a result of this, the Ivorian has been allowed to dream of a second Champions League victory under Guardiola's tutelage, following the duo's victory with Barcelona in 2009.

He admitted: “To repeat what I did in 2009 with the manager at a different club I think would be something special.

“Tomorrow (Wednesday) we have Shakhtar Donetsk. After that, we will see what happens.”

The midfielder is known to have a somewhat fractured history with Pep, but showed no sign of it when called upon to speak about the Spanish manager, declaring: “In the first year, you could see we were trying to get the tactics of the manager.

“Now all the team get the tactics. That’s why are are playing with confidence.

“If you ask all my team-mates, they’re all enjoying it. The way we are playing, it’s like when you are young and you always wanted to play."

City have already guaranteed their advancement to the knockout stages, having secured top spot in Group F with victory of Feyenoord on matchday five, but will be looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

Their opposition, Shakhtar, are currently second in the group, but will be hoping to get at least a draw with Guardiola's side. Should they lose, their progression will be placed in the hands of a pointless Feyenoord side tasked with holding a rampant Napoli team to an unlikely stalemate.