Yaya Toure was left out of Manchester City's
Champions League squad for the playoff first leg
with Steaua Bucharest because he wouldn't have
played, Pep Guardiola has revealed.
The Ivorian midfielder was not in Guardiola's 18-
man match squad for Saturday's Premier League
opener with Sunderland on Saturday.
And Toure was then left behind from the 21-man
squad that travelled to Romania on Sunday for the
crucial clash against Steaua with a place in the
group stages at stake.
Guardiola told a news conference: "Yaya is
training amazing but I was not sure he was going
to play so I would prefer him to stay in
Manchester."
Academy youngsters Angelino and Tosin
Adarabioyo were selected in the travelling party
over Toure, with a place in the Champions League
group stage at stake.
"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," the manager said.
"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."
Toure was not the only senior player missing
from his squad for Tuesday's first leg. Belgium
defender Jason Denayer was also left behind
while Eliaquim Mangala, Wilfried Bony and Samir
Nasri were not named in the list of players eligible
to play in the Champions League last week.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart travelled along with Willy
Caballero, who was preferred to the England
keeper for the 2-1 win over Sunderland, as well
as youngster Angus Gunn.
But Guardiola would be not drawn on reports that
Hart could be set to leave the club to be replaced
by Barcelona's Claudio Bravo.
"Since I have been Manchester City manager and
we have been together, Joe has been perfect. He
is a great professional on and off the pitch,"
Guardiola said of Hart.
"It is not the moment to talk about players who
are not in Manchester City and in another club. I
won't talk about transfers before such an
important match in our season."
The Catalan added that City cannot afford to take
their Romanian opponents lightly if they are to
secure a place in the group stages.
"I have seen a lot of Steaua games and I am very
impressed with what they do," he said.
"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."
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