Yaya Toure has aimed a dig at his former boss Pep Guardiola by questioning whether Manchester City need to change manager in order to win the Champions League.
Guardiola has been in the City hot seat for four seasons but is yet to lead the club beyond the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier competition.
The most recent campaign ended in further disappointment as the Sky Blues were stunned by underdogs Lyon to lose 3-1 and exit at the last-eight stage.
Toure has had an uneasy relationship with his former Barcelona and City coach in the past and branded Guardiola’s failure to bring the Champions League to the Etihad “disappointing” and “strange”.
“The manager has been signed for that: just to bring this trophy,” the former Ivory Coast midfielder told newsmen.
“And when you see Liverpool maybe and other clubs who [have won it] without doing a lot of work in the transfer market, it’s quite strange and disappointing.
“Of course, he’s been brought to the club to get a massive trophy for them and at the moment it’s not been delivered in the way they want.
“Everyone knows Pep is a great manager, but at the moment when things are not going their way, sometimes it’s the time to change the way they do things. We’ll see.”
Guardiola has won two Premier League titles, three League Cups and one FA Cup since joining City in 2016. Before that, he enjoyed a glittering three-year stint with Bayern Munich in which he won five major honours.
But the Spaniard has not won the Champions League since 2011, when his Barcelona side beat Manchester United 3-1 in the final to add to their historic treble two years earlier.
Meanwhile, Lyon faced Bayern Munich after overcoming City but were beaten 3-0 in Wednesday’s semi-final.
And Bayern will face French champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final on Sunday night.