Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has heaped praise on Eric Abidal and Tito Vilanova after their respective battles with illness.
The 29-year-old played at Camp Nou between 2007 and 2010, and had some particularly kind words to say about his former team-mate Abidal, who recently made his return following a liver transplant.
I m happy for Tito and Abidal. They re great. Abidal is a fantastic person and what he s done is very inspiring. He s an example for all of us, Toure told Rac1.
Toure also spoke about Barcelona s upcoming Champions League semi-final first leg clash with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday.
The game against Bayern will be very difficult, but Barca are always favourites for me, he said.
There are always difficulties in the Champions League, like against Milan, but I believe that Barca s quality – and (Lionel) Messi s above all can decide the game.
Toure made 61 league appearances in his three years with Barca, scoring eight goals before joining City in 2010.
