The 'African curse' set on Pep Guardiola by Yaya Toure's agent has resurfaced after Manchester City's exit in the semi-final at the hands of Real Madrid. Dimitry Seluk claimed the African shamans would not allow the Cityzens to win the elite European competition under the Spaniard.
Seluk was furious with Guardiola for his treatment of Toure and had 'put a curse' on the manager. He went on to suggest the manager had an issue with African players after reports of similar disagreements with Samuel Eto'o.
Manchester City have missed out on the Champions League trophy yet again after Real Madrid staged a stunning comeback in the dying minutes of the semi-final second leg. As soon as Rodrygo's second goal was scored, Dimitry Seluk's curse was all over Twitter. In 2018, the football agent told France Football [via Telegraph]:
"God sees everything. As a man who acted with Yaya, the legend of the club, which under different pretexts did not give the opportunity to go on the field. He turned all Africa against himself, many African fans turned away from Manchester City. And I'm sure that many African shamans in the future will not allow Guardiola to win the Champions League. This will be for Guardiola an African curse. Life will show whether I am right or not."
Pep Guardiola on Manchester City's Champions League exit
Pep Guardiola admitted it was going to be tough to take the Champions League loss to Real Madrid. His side were 5-3 up on aggregate with a minute left in the game but conceded twice in 2 minutes, and the game went into extra time.
Karim Benzema scored from the spot early in the first half of extra time, and that was enough for Los Blancos to move into the final. Speaking after the game, Guardiola said:
"I have had defeats in the Champions League, I had tough defeats at Barcelona when we could not reach the final. But it is tough for us, I cannot deny that. We were so close to the Champions League final. We didn't play well in the first half, we didn't find our game. The second half was much better, and after the goal, we had control. We found our game but unfortunately, we could not finish. The players gave everything. We were so close."
Real Madrid will now face Liverpool in the final, while Manchester City will be looking to avoid such slip-ups in the league and win the title.