Ivory Coast's Yaya Toure fears his Barcelona team are getting tired

Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure fears fatigue is creeping into his Barcelona team after the Spanish league leaders failed to win for a third straight match.

His comments come after Barcelona drew 1-1 with French champions Lyon in the European Champions League on Tuesday.

"It's a case of fatigue," Toure said after the match.

"We played against Espanyol for 60 minutes with one less player, and today we knew it would not be easy coming to Lyon."

The 1992 and 2006 European Cup winner has the most potent strike force in Europe, scoring 71 goals in 24 Spanish league matches this season and 105 goals in all competitions.

Its strike trio of Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi has 51 goals in the Spanish league and 66 in all competitions.

But against Lyon, they were well contained until Henry's goal that levelled the game after Juninho's opening goal.

"We could have created more (chances) but it's a good result for the away leg," Toure said.

"We knew that Lyon was in good shape.

"We knew they would come at us hard because this is the home leg and it was important for them to win it."

Toure feels Barcelona are starting to feel the strain of playing fast-paced football with trying to clinch a third European Cup, win the Spanish league and the Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey).

"It's true that we are involved in all the competitions so we know it's going to be hard for us physically," he added.

"All the teams who play against us will treat the match like it's a final, and we know that perfectly well, so that's why we have to prepare the best way physically and mentally for every game."

Barcelona saw their lead at the top of the Spanish league cut to seven points at the weekend when they lost 2-1 to city rivals Espanyol and Real Madrid thrashed Real Betis 6-1.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version