Manchester City must take on Barcelona without suspended key man Yaya Toure on Tuesday night – and the stats show just how much Manuel Pellegrini’s men miss their Ivorian talisman.
In the 27 matches Toure has played for City this season, the club have recorded a 63 per cent win percentage. In the 10 games without him that figure falls to just 30 per cent.
Toure’s absence was notable during the Africa Cup of Nations, when City won just one of the six matches they played while Toure was on international duty with the Ivory Coast. They promptly thrashed Newcastle 5-0 upon his return last weekend.
“I always prefer to play with Yaya,” said Pellegrini this week. “He is a very important player and we always play better with Yaya.”
However, the Chilean also pointed to the fact City scored crucial wins over Roma and Bayern Munich in the Champions League group phase without Toure and hopes they can repeat the feat against Lionel Messi and co at the Etihad.
“We can do well without him because we did so against Bayern and Roma and we have a good squad to replace him.”
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