Yaya Toure Was Afraid Leo Messi Would Embarrass Him in Front of His Family

Lionel Messi was in typically resplendent form when Barcelona met Manchester City at the Champions League round of 16 last season.

During the Blaugrana's 1-0 win at the Camp Nou in March, the diminutive Argentine appeared to be on a nutmegging mission, which resulted in him putting the ball between the legs of both James Milner and Fernandinho—with the former ending up on his backside. 

During an interview with Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport, Yaya Toure revealed that Messi had delivered a pre-match nuts-related threat to his former team-mate. Sport quoted Toure as saying: "Last year in the dressing room he jokingly said he will nutmeg me."

The semi-joke warning struck fear into the heart of Toure, particularly when he saw his team-mates getting humiliated:

"I saw him nutmeg two of my team-mates and thought he'd do it to me. Whenever he came near me I screamed inside 'please not me, don't nutmeg me'. I was afraid he'd embarrass me in front of my family."

Luckily, Toure's family were not subjected to any nutmeg embarrassment, but they probably weren't holding their heads too high after seeing a troubling performance that resulted in his substitution that evening. 

[Sport]