The 34-year-old Ivorian midfielder has played less of a front-line role this season as young guns Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus have helped fire City to the top of the Premier and Champions League tables.
But watching the awesome ability of this new wave of City talent has in turn boosted the squad’s elder statesmen, according to Toure.
He declared: “For players like me and Vinnie (Kompany), the older players, and we see the younger players like Sane and Sterling coming in ... we play with more confidence. We can see what we are doing, when we put the pressure on we get the result.”
Toure has featured five times this season, helping City extend the winning streak to an incredible 20 games.
He started the last Champions League game against Feyenoord at the Etihad Stadium and will be pushing for a recall to the starting line-up against Shakhtar.
The Blues are looking to complete a flawless Group F campaign and would become the first English side ever to achieve that feat, ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Toure, who played in Ukraine earlier in his career for Metalurh Donetsk, added: “Our team is playing some of the best football in Europe but we want to play against the best teams to see where we are!
“I think teams respect us. We are in a good moment. We are full of confidence. The way we control games is fantastic.
“Shakhtar have a beautiful team, a great squad, a great coach. For us it is a big challenge to play against them.”
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