Yaya Toure

Yaya's back with a bang!

Yaya Toure made a surprise return to the Manchester City team last weekend and didn't disappoint his fans. The City midfielder scored twice to give City a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace. Toure combined well with Nolito to open the scoring in the 39th minute, but Palace played better in the second half and Conor Wickham scored a deserved equaliser. The story of this match was perhaps written before kick-off when the team sheets were announced and it was Toure who had the final word. With just a few minutes left to play, Toure grabbed the winner when he scored from close-range following a corner from Kevin De Bruyne. It was the perfect return for Toure; City fans had chanted his name throughout the match and his teammates clapped him off the pitch at the final whistle.

It's good to be back...#ComeOnCity @YayaToure on Twitter after the match.

Friends again

This was Yaya Toure's first Premier League match of the season. The only match that Toure had played this season was the second leg of a Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest, City had already won the first leg 5-0 so the match was not very important. Yaya Toure had fallen out with the manager Pep Guardiola because of some problems with Toure's agent. Guardiola decided that Toure wouldn't be part of the City squad until he received an apology from Toure's agent. Toure apologised at the beginning of November, and the pair have now made up and the midfielder is, once again, an important part of Pep Guardiola's squad.  

The situation was very difficult but thank you to the manager for letting me play today.  Yaya Toure, speaking after the match against Crystal Palace.

What do we know about Yaya Toure?

Yaya Toure was born in Bouaké in the Ivory Coast, in May 1983. When he was 13 years old he moved to Abidjan (the biggest city in Ivory Coast) to play for ASEC Mimosas and their famous academy. This academy has produced many famous Ivorian players including his brother Kolo (ex-Liverpool, Arsenal and City), Gervinho (Roma and ex-Arsenal) and Solomon Kalou (Lille and ex-Chelsea). There are also a number of Ivorians currently playing in the Premier League:

• Eric Bailly (Manchester Utd)
• Wilfried Bony (Stoke City)
• Arouna Kone (Everton)
• Max Gradel (Bournemouth)
• Lamine Kone (Sunderland)

The most successful Ivorian to play in the Premier League is Didier Drogba. The striker won 12 major trophies with Chelsea, including the Champions League and four Premier League titles, and scored 164 goals for the club.

Like many of his Ivorian colleagues, Toure left the Ivory Coast to play in Europe. So far in his career Toure has played for six different clubs, in six different countries. They are:

Beveren	Belgium	Metalurh Donetsk	Ukraine
Olimpiacos	Greece	AS Monaco	France
FC Barcelona	Spain	Manchester City	England

What has Yaya won?

During his travels, Toure has won league titles in four different countries, (Ivory Coast, Greece, Spain and England). He also won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2009 where he played as a centre-back in the 2-0 victory against Manchester United. Because the competition at Barcelona was very strong he moved to Manchester City in the summer of 2010.

Toure played 102 times for Ivory Coast and scored 19 international goals. He made his debut against Egypt, in June 2004. Toure played for 'The Elephants' in six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and the highlight was in 2015 when Toure captained his country to victory. In September 2016, Toure retired from international football.

In addition to honours with his club and with his country, Toure has won many individual honours. These include being named African Footballer of the Year four times and named in the Premier League team of the season twice.

You can follow Yaya Toure on twitter. He posts using the name @YayaToure

How much Football English did you learn?

There was a lot of football vocabulary in this article. Try the quiz below and test your understanding of football vocabulary. You can find all the answers in bold in the text above.

What do you think?

Yaya Toure hasn't played for six months. Do you think he will play an important part in the rest of City's season? Do you think he should have been in the team? 

Both Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba are Premier League legends. Who do you think was/is better? Is it possible to compare the two players?

Take another look at the football English in the article (the words in bold). Were any of these words new for you? Can you try to use some of them in the comments section below?