The Ligue 1 leaders were superb for much of the match, with Bernardo Silva, Fabinho, Falcao and Kylian Mbappe combining brilliantly on a number of occasions, and they found themselves 3-2 up with half an hour remaining.
But a stirring fightback saw City win the game 5-3 and put themselves in a good position ahead of the second leg in three weeks’ time.
Toure, who continues to impress in a position at the base of City’s midfield, says only a performance of that calibre was going to be good enough beat such a talented side.
“This is the kind of performance we needed to deliver because they are such a good team,” Toure said afterwards. “People underrate them and, to be honest, it was not easy.
“After we went behind, we continued to believe. They are young, they have pace, they have desire, and I think we needed to show more today.
“The most important was entertaining the fans, as always. Everyone in the stadium was happy with the performance today.
“Straight after the game my wife rang me and said we were looking young today and the team was brilliant.”
Willy Caballero produced two outstanding saves from Falcao in the second-half – one from the penalty spot and the other from point-blank range late on.
Toure believes his contribution was crucial – but also praised the quality of City’s attacking options.
“The goalkeeper, Caballero, made the important saves today, he pulled us back in the game again,” he said.
“[The game was] Unbelievable, that’s why I want to stay in Europe and enjoy it again.
“We can concede a goal but we have the strikers like [Leroy] Sane, [Sergio] Aguero, Raheem [Sterling], Jesus Navas, Nolito – we have a team that want it.
“And you could see today the desire of this team. When we are winning 4-3, we continue to attack and after when we scored the fifth, we try to control the game because we know the second game is going to be crucial.”
Aguero’s second-half double took his tally to 20 for the season and reminded people of his instincts inside the area after spending three games on the bench prior to the weekend’s FA Cup tie with Huddersfield.
Toure, who has played alongside Aguero for five-and-a-half years, is full of admiration for him teammate.
“A fantastic player,” he said of the Argentine. “Today we could see his desire.
“The referee was a little bit unfair in the first half, it was a clear penalty, but it can happen in any game, sometimes the referee makes a mistake.
“We are delighted with the win.”
