Toure said: "When I saw that on the replay, I thought the intention was bad. I think sometimes it is better to show the red when somebody makes an intentional foul.
"The referee did well to send him off. The damage could have been a lot worse."
Hleb was last week, on the receiving end of a bad challenge from West Ham's Mark Noble and Toure continued by saying: "I spoke to Alex afterwards in the dressing room and I said, 'They want to kill you.'
"He is such a great player. Teams want to stop him. But he is okay. He was having a massage afterwards and seemed alright."