London — AllAfrica update: Read the dramatic story of Sunday's match below this report...
Two Ivorian brothers are the focus of attention among the international followers of English football this weekend as their club, Manchester City, stands on the verge of humbling the mighty Manchester United soccer machine.
Midfielder Yaya Touré and his older brother, defender Kolo Touré, have been key figures in the rebuilding of their team into an outfit which is the favourite to win the English Premier League on Sunday.
The outcome of two matches will decide the matter: one between Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers, and another between Manchester United and Sunderland. If City wins their final match of the current season as expected, and unless United can overcome an eight-goal deficit in theirs, City will dethrone United to win the title for the first time in 44 years.
Kolo and Yaya Touré were born in Bouake, but moved to Abidjan, where they attended a soccer academy which prepared them for the big time in Europe.
Kolo's first Premier League team was Arsenal, which he joined in 2002, and he moved to Manchester City in 2009 as part of a controversial campaign by its new owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, to throw seemingly unlimited amounts of money into turning the team into winners.
City paid a transfer fee of 16 millon UK pounds to acquire Kolo. The following year it used Kolo to attract Yaya to the team. He had played for a number of European teams, but it was from Barcelona he was finally tranferred.
Since his move, Yaya's star has steadily risen. He scored the winning goal in a semi-final in last season's Football Association Cup Final, then one of the goals which won the team the final.
Little more than a month ago, City was trailing its cross-town rivals badly in the Premier League. But it won a succession of matches before facing United in a crucial game two weeks ago. City prevailed 1-0 in a game which sports writers said Yaya had dominated in a magnificent performance.
Last week he became the toast of English soccer when he scored two goals against Newcastle United to take City to the brink of seizing this year's title. He was, wrote the Guardian's Sachin Nakrani, "at his rampaging best... Touré perhaps best epitomises why a power shift across Manchester [from United to City] appears not only imminent but also long-lasting."
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Nakrani's colleague, Louise Taylor, commented: "Yaya Touré cost Manchester City around 24 millon pounds and earns 250,000 pounds a week. Even in the context of Premier League economics these remain staggering, absolute top of the market sums, but sometimes you really do get what you pay for."
No one is taking a win for granted on Sunday - Queens Park Rangers desperately needs a point to avoid relegation. But it will be Yaya Touré's 29th birthday, and he is determined to give himself a present. He told the London press this week: "It is for occasions like this I came to City – to make history – and I hope I will make history at the weekend."
MATCH UPDATE: Manchester City ended its Premier League season in one of the most dramatic finishes imaginable on Sunday afternoon.
Yaya Toure went down clasping the back of his knee into the first half, but although clearly injured, struggled on to set up a goal wiith a pass to Pablo Zabaleta. With the score at 1-0, he was replaced to a standing ovation from City supporters and played no further role in the game.
In the second half, City suffered two huge shocks as Queens Park Rangers surged back so score two goals, reducing many City fans in the stands to tears and leading one BBC commentator to suggest that Toure's loss had been a "huge blow". With the score at 1-2, the match went into stoppage time. But City came storming back in the closing minutes to score two goals, winning the title.
