Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola hasn’t won the Champions League for years, suffering a host of painful near misses. It’s as if he’s been jinxed…

And maybe he has. In 2018, Yaya Touré’s then-agent said African shamans would place a curse on Guardiola after the Ivorian's City exit.

The curse would prevent Guardiola from ever winning the UCL again, Dmitriy Seluk said, as punishment for the coach's treatment of his client.

"The way he acted towards Yaya, a  club legend, coming up with various pretexts not to let him play,” Seluk said. “He has set all of Africa against him.” 

“I’m sure that many African shamans will not let Guardiola win the Champions League in future. It will be like an African curse."

Pep is still waiting to claim another Champions League crown - and  with every passing year, the curse  has felt more and more real.

After last-eight losses to Spurs and Lyon in 2019 and 2020, City reached their first final in 2021 - but suffered heartbreak in a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.

Guardiola hasn’t lifted the European title since his time at Barcelona, when  the Blaugrana beat Manchester United in the 2009 and 2011 finals.

No coach has lost more UCL semis: he's been beaten in six out of nine. Most recently, City were knocked out by an epic Real Madrid comeback in 2022.

However, Seluk now says the curse  has been lifted. “I want to apologise  for this matter,” he told the Mirror.  “It’s time for this bitterness to stop."

“I can say that the spell has now  been lifted by the shamans - and  that I think City will win the  Champions League under Pep.”