- Yaya Toure was left out of Manchester City’s squad to face Burnley
- Manuel Pellegrini had insisted midfielder missed out due to injury
- But Toure has taken to Twitter to refute the claims of his manager
- Toure tweeted that he was ‘rested’ and that he is not ‘injured’
Yaya Toure has risked upsetting Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini by refuting his suggestion he was not fit to play against Burnley.
Toure was absent from the matchday squad as City dropped two points and missed a golden opportunity to close the gap on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.
After the match, his Pellegrini claimed that Toure was nursing a groin injury that he picked up at West Brom on Boxing Day and also said he was a major doubt for the home match against Sunderland on Boxing Day.
Yaya Toure has taken to Twitter to insist he was rested for Manchester City and was ‘not injured;
Toure, however, tweeted on Tuesday night to say: ‘Just a note to say the boss rested me for the Burnley game, I am not injured…!! really hope to be involved against Sunderland! #ComeOnCity!’
In his post-match press conference on Sunday, Pellegrini had said: ‘Yaya Toure was not able to play today. It was a risk for him. The players that played today were the players who were able to.
‘Yaya felt a problem at the beginning of the last game against West Bromwich.’
Toure may have upset Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini after appearing to contradict him
Toure, pictured playing against West Bromwich Albion on Boxing Day, was absent for the Burnley match
With regards to his chances of making the Sunderland game, Pellegrini answered: ‘We will see. We hope that he will be because it was a lesser problem but after 48 hours maybe it is too high a risk to repeat. It is a muscle injury in his groin.’
Toure had appeared to have settled down at City after the summer in which he seemed intent on driving a wedge between himself and the champions.
In May, Seluk claimed Toure was ‘very upset’ that the club did not present him with a cake for his 31st birthday and also alleged that on a trip to Abu Dhabi, the club’s owners did not shake Toure’s hand.
Following the World Cup, Toure – who had, in fact, been presented with two birthday cakes by City – made some rather more damaging allegations, suggesting the club did not allow him compassionate leave to spend time with his terminally ill brother Ibrahim, who died last June.
Toure has established himself as one of City’s key players but has also had his problems at the Etihad