FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.09.2007 13:40

Touré: respect for an old friend

Touré Yaya knows all about Olympique Lyon, Barça’s first opponent in the group stage of the Champions League. The former Monaco midfielder highlights the teamwork of the side managed by Alain Perrin.

He was only in the French Ligue 1 for one season but Touré, who played 27 league matches, knows all about Barça’s next opponent. Olympique Lyon have won the last six league titles and played Monaco twice last season. Monaco did pretty well, with a 1-0 win plus a goalless draw against a Lyon side that finished 30 points above them in the league table.

Champions League debut

The Ivory Coast international midfielder is looking forward to making his debut in the UEFA Champions League with Barça and admitted to www.fcbarcelona.cat that the opponent would make that possible debut even more mouth-watering: "It’s rather ironic. I’ve only just arrived at Barça and already I have to face the best team in France. I believe it’ll be a good match”.

Touré, who missed the second league clash with Lyon last season, believes that Lyon have lost some of their individual quality: “The team is a bit weakened by the departure of a number of important players, such as Thiago. Despite that, I believe that Olympique is still a very good team. I believe it’ll be a very difficult match”.

Caution

However, Touré stressed that the departure of some of the Lyon stars should not create any overconfidence on the part of the Barça players. Olympique are still a strong outfit and currently lie in second place in the French league with 16 points: “I know all the players, including the ones that have signed recently, but I believe that the strength of Lyon lies in the collective, and you can’t take them for granted”.