Pep Guardiola would “be in trouble” if he were manager of Barcelona or Real Madrid, claims Yaya Toure, with the Catalan having been appointed by Manchester City to deliver Champions League glory.
European success has once again eluded those at the Etihad Stadium in 2020. A shock quarter-final defeat to Lyon means that City’s long wait for continental glory is set to continue.
Guardiola has claimed the Champions League crown before, but his last triumph came back in 2011 when still in charge of a star-studded Barca side.
Toure believes recent failures would not be tolerated at Camp Nou or Santiago Bernabeu, with City needing to ask questions of whether their coach can land the prize they covet most.
“Maybe if it was Barcelona or maybe Real Madrid, for sure he’s going to be in trouble,” the former City and Blaugrana midfielder told Express Sport. “We don’t have to be in any doubt that he has been brought to City to win the Champions League.
“Now people are finding a way to say he’s coming just for the league or for anything. But you cannot lie about that because the budget the club have been giving to him year after year, he needs to have the trophy. He needed to have it. When you bring in a manager of this calibre he needs to have results.”
Toure added: “Of course, Pep’s good but people are going to demand a bit more from him because of what they give to him. The expectations are going to be high. There’s not any club in the world like City can spend millions of pounds on players - young players and quality players are expensive.
“When you get these things, you have to give the trophy to the club. I don’t know what the board are thinking, it’s them that is going to make this kind of decision. I know City, they can have whatever manager they want because everybody knows they got the money to do it.”
Guardiola saw his tactical approach criticised against Lyon, but Toure feels that may be only part of the problem for City.
The Ivorian said: “To be honest, these days what happens is all about man-management. You have to feel the players want to play for you.
“So many players don’t want to play with you then in a few weeks maybe the manager is going to be sacked. The player needs the confidence of his manager and the manager needs his players as well.
“For me, as a player, I always believe if you have to give 100 per cent then you have to give 100 per cent to the right person and the person who deserves my sacrifice. You cannot do things for people now if there’s no confidence or trust and it’s quite hard. The players have to be with the manager.”