Pep Guardiola talks Steaua Bucharest, Yaya Touré absence from Champions League squad

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke to the press ahead of the Champions League playoff first leg against Steaua Bucharest in Romania. The Catalan manager was full of praise for the opposition, and he didn't shy away from the questions about Yaya Touré, who was dropped from the squad that will be in uniform against Steaua.

Guardiola says the only reason to not use Touré against both Sunderland and Steaua is simply technical, and from the coach's words, it's safe to assume he doesn't plan to sell the Ivorian. Here's more from Pep:

“I have seen a lot of Steaua games and I am very impressed with what they do. We are going to try and score goals and try to convince the players how important it is to play in the Champions League and how beautiful it is and we are going to try and win it.

“At the end, the pitch is the pitch and everything is level. It depends on our game. Every coach and every manager has his own ideas. I have one that I believe in a lot and I try every training session and every game to convince these guys that this is the best way to win the game.

“It all depends on the quality of the players. The first target is to try to play good for us and for our people, our fans. I would like them to go to the stadium and for them to think wow, I like how they play.”

“Yaya is training amazing but I was not sure he was going to play so I would prefer him to stay in Manchester to keep training good.

“We travel with two young guys who maybe will stay out of the selection. I’d prefer the young guys to be out of selection rather than Yaya Toure.

“I have a lot of respect him, his career, his quality. Against Sunderland, were looking for a typical, intensive game and that’s why he didn’t play – that’s the only reason why.”

Source: ManCity.com