TOURE OUT OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE (YAYA NOT KOLO)

The 35-year-old former Liverpool central defender was immense as Celtic overcame Hapoel Be’er Sheva to reach the Champions League Group stages and before the draw in Monte Carlo.And having made sure that Celtic were in the draw Kolo was hopeful that his new club would be drawn against Manchester City to allow him to play against his brother.

He said: “It would be nice to play against my brother. That would be great. It won’t be the first time and it would be really exciting.

“Do I have a good record against him? Hmm, I don’t know, I would have to check that.

“He has been winning a few games, I have been winning some, as well, when we’ve played against one another.

“We have never played against one another in the Champions League. That would be a really good thing for the family and I really hope the younger brother will let me win!”

However Manchester City have today released their squad for the Champions League Group Stages and the big news is that Yaya Toure has been omitted as Guardiola makes his presence felt.

The 33-year-old Ivory Coast midfielder has yet to feature for City in a Premier League squad after the first three matches under City’s new manager.

And Yaya Toure was squeezed out by UEFA rules on the minimum number of locally trained players in European squads.

Clubs can name up to 25 players for the Champions League  but eight of those must be homegrown. City fail in this regard so their  lack of homegrown players means that they have listed only 21 players and Yaya is not included.

Kolo Toure has just about seen it all in European football, starring for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal when they reached the Champions League Final a decade ago.

The centre-half helped the Gunners to a superb run of 10 clean-sheets on their way to the showpiece encounter before they were outgunned by a Henrik Larsson-inspired Barcelona in Paris, despite leading for a lengthy spell with a Sol Campbell goal.

Kolo added prior to the draw: “You are always proud to get to a Final. But that is the past and I need to focus on what is coming next.

“We’re going to play some really good teams and we want to do well. It was a tough game against Hapoel Beer Sheva in Israel, but the most important thing is we have qualified.

“This is why I came here. The manager brought me to Celtic and everywhere I go I like a challenge and I want to do my best for the club, team, for everyone. For myself first.”

Manchester City’s 21 man squad for the Champions League is Claudio Bravo, Willy Caballero; Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, Gael Clichy, John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi; Fernando, Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan, Jesus Navas, Kevin De Bruyne, Fabian Delph, Leroy Sane, David Silva, Fernandinho; Nolito, Sergio Aguero and Kelechi Iheanacho.