Manchester City star Yaya Toure joins Pep Guardiola in slamming ‘rubbish’ Mitre Carabao Cup match ball
YAYA TOURE joined Pep Guardiola in slamming the 'rubbish' match ball used in the Carabao Cup.
Manchester City needed a penalty shoot-out to finally see off Wolves - after drawing a rare blank for 120 minutes.
And afterwards the Etihad chief claimed the Mitre Delta football - used in all EFL matches - was partly to blame for his team's below par performance.
Toure was one of a host of changes made by Pep for the tie and admitted he had struggled to get to grips with it too.
The former Ivory Coast international said: "I don’t like it to be honest. They can do better than that. It’s too light.
"Even in my country they can’t use those kind of balls. I think they have to be better than that because the ball was too soft.
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"It’s rubbish but that’s fine."
Previously the match ball used at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa came under immense fire but Toure believes this one is worse.
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He added: "The World Cup one was better than that one. A lot of players were complaining.
"The FA can try to do something because we just want to enjoy it. It’s difficult to play with these kind of balls but we try to find a way.
"It’s everything. Shooting - the ball is very light, when you touch it, it’s floating, it’s rubbish. And in this weather it’s difficult."
But a statement from the EFL read: "The Mitre ball used in this season’s Carabao Cup is of exactly the same technical specification as the balls used in the Sky Bet EFL and Checkatrade Trophy, all of which are tested in accordance with the 'FIFA Quality Programme for Footballs' and meet the “FIFA Quality Pro” standard.
Meanwhile, Toure hailed penalty hero Claudio Bravo for keeping City in the competition - and said it was no fluke.
The Chilean was also the shoot-out hero for his country at the Confederations Cup in Russia during the summer - and works hard on it in training.
Toure said: "Bravo was the best player today - it was very enjoyable for him.
"Claudio has experience and the criticism he received last year, he’s shown that he deserves to play in this team.
"His record for penalties is good for Chile, for everything and in the training ground. We try to work on that.
"Sometimes the manager will use us and we’ll have some sort of competition between us. He’s very good, Claudio."
Toure continued his own perfect penalty record by slotting home his own spot-kick.
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He smiled: "I don't remember Claudio saving any of mine - he doesn't touch mine.
"Have I ever missed? No - I don't remember doing. I'm lucky."
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