Pep Guardiola: 'Yaya Toure deserves Champions League squad place'

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that Yaya Toure deserves to be named in the club's Champions League knockout stage squad.

The midfielder was omitted from City's 25-man list for the group stages, sparking a row with his agent that led to him being frozen out of the team.

Since then, Toure has apologised for Dimitri Seluk's remarks and has reclaimed his starting berth in the City lineup, putting in a string of impressive performances.

Guardiola told Sky Sports News: "[Toure] deserves that. In the first part of the season he was not able [to play] for many physical reasons, in the second part you know why [not]. But of course he [now] deserves to be in the Champions League in the second round.

"I know him better than you. I was with him in Barcelona. I judge the players on whether they are able to go to Old Trafford, to Anfield, to the Nou Camp, to Madrid, to Turin, on how they are going to react. There is no doubt about Yaya on that. His personality is huge in those terms. I knew that from Barcelona."

City were unable to get Toure into their initial squad because they had already filled their 17 available spaces for overseas players, but a space has now become available following a season-ending injury to Ilkay Gundogan.