Pep Guardiola’s offers hesitant olive branch for prodigal son Yaya Toure

Crystal Palace 1 Manchester City 2: It was only a one-word answer. But no question posed to Pep Guardiola after Manchester City’s latest victory elicited a more telling response.

Asked if he regretted leaving Yaya Toure out of Manchester City’s 25-man Champions League squad for the group stages, the Spaniard looked his interlocutor straight in the eye and offered a firm “No.” Down by the dressing rooms, Toure offered his own view of the stand-off that could define, for good or bad, City’s tilt at success in Europe this season.

Defeat to Borussia Moenchengladbach in Germany on Wednesday could throw their progress to the knockout stages back into doubt. Toure cannot influence matters in the way he did a tight 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace because he cannot play.