The Ivorian midfielder was left infuriated at certain decisions in the tie while Samir Nasri admitted he and his team-mates received “no help” from the officials

Yaya Toure insists Manchester City would have beaten Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 if a “good referee” had officiated both legs.

The Premier League giants were beaten 4-1 on aggregate but Toure believes the officials favoured the Spanish side over the 180 minutes.

City saw a man sent off in each leg of the tie – Martin Demichelis at the Etihad Stadium and Pablo Zabaleta at Camp Nou – and were also denied what appeared to be a clear penalty in Spain, while Lionel Messi scored from the spot in the first leg despite being fouled outside the box.

“We learned we have to get a good referee. If we had a good referee in both games I think things would have been fine,” Toure told reporters after the game in Catalonia.

“But I think, to be honest, we lost the game in the first leg. We respected them a lot but, to be honest, we go out but we have something to do and for us I think it’s important to focus on the Premier League now. That’s all we can do.”

Toure’s team-mate Samir Nasri agreed with the Ivorian’s assessment of the refereeing decisions and claimed his side “did not have any help from the officials”.

“We played a good game, I think we did everything we could,” he said.

“We can have regrets about the first leg because it was in the first leg that we lost. I think we did everything. Once again we did not have any help from the officials so it was a little bit difficult.”