In the Champions League pre-match press conference last night, FC Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure, trying to recant his recent statements (made with French magazine ‘France Football’), hinting at the possibility of leaving the club if he did not get enough playing time, said, “Here, they are very passionate about their football, and this team play it superbly well. I am happy at Barcelona and I know no one must think he is bigger than the club.”

Seeking to avert broadening the issue, the Ivorian player requested that reporters not to ask him about his agent, who had also demanded his increased presence within the team, and said his priority is to “keep on growing (as a player) and helps the team maintain its winning ways.”

Touching on Barcelona’s match tomorrow (tonight), Toure stressed that overcoming the Ukrainian side is “vital” for Barcelona’s qualification and insisted that all the players will “risk everything” to achieve it, while sounding out a caution about the team’s opponent: “Dynamo is a team that played with great determination and seldom lose, except against Inter.”

“If they win by more than two goals, the Champions League will be over for us – should Inter or Rubin wins,” warned the Ivorian, “So we can say that this match is like a final.”

“This is a very complicated group because there are four champions of their respective leagues here.”

Finally asked about Ivory Coast’s chances in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Toure admitted that he would rather avoid Spain in the knockout stage and lamented the fact that, just as happened in 2006, Ivory Coast is “again drawn into a ‘Group of Death’ along with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea,” and acknowledged, “It is going to be tough for us.”