The days of Yaya Toure playing against Sunderland are long gone, thankfully, as the former Man City star always seemed to have a good game against the Black Cats.
Not only is Yaya Toure now retired, as of 2019, but Sunderland are no longer in the Premier League, as of 2017, although Regis Le Bris has the Black Cats back on track.
On Tuesday night he watched on as Sunderland secured their spot in the Championship play-offs with five games to spare, after drawing 0-0 against Norwich City at Carrow Road.
The game was by no means a spectacle: several Black Cats players came under scrutiny in what was a rather forgettable night for the Black Cats who’ll have to perform much better than that in the play-offs.
But the job is half-done for Sunderland who have five games to prepare for up to three play-off games, with possible promotion to the Premier League set to be an exceptional achievement for Le Bris in his first season at the Stadium of Light.
And returning to the Premier League would allow Sunderland the chance to once again pit themselves against the world’s best teams and players.
Yaya Toure says Sunderland was his ‘lucky team’ at Man City
Toure, now 41, joined Man City from Barcelona in 2010. In eight years at the club he made 316 total appearances for the Cityzens, scoring 80 and assisting 45 more whilst helping the club win three Premier League titles including their very first in 2012 under Roberto Mancini.
Speaking in a recent interview with the Premier League’s official YouTube channel, Toure was talking about some of his best ever goals and his memorable strike against Sunderland back in January 2015 came up, with Toure revealing that Sunderland was in fact his ‘lucky team’ when at Man City.
The former Ivorian international said: “Sunderland was a bit different. Sunderland I always score a special goal. Like we say sometimes in the games, you always have a lucky team. Every time you play against them you always score goals. I always feel like something’s going to happen: goals or assists, but this goal was always special.”
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That wasn’t even Yaya Toure’s best goal against Sunderland
Toure certainly liked playing Sunderland: he played the Black Cats 14 times in his career, winning nine of those meetings and scoring four goas, with two assists.
His strike in January 2015 was certainly a cracker but his best goal against Sunderland came in the 2014 League Cup final between Sunderland and Man City.
Sunderland actually opened the scoring that game through Fabio Borini but Man City mounted a second half comeback, sparked by Toure’s incredible strike from range which looped over Vito Mannone in the Sunderland goal.
Fast-forward to now, Sunderland take on Swansea City at the Stadium of Light in their next outing on Saturday.