Football Talk - Adebayor pleads innocence! - 14/09/09
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who has been criticised for his behaviour during Saturday's victory over former club Arsenal, believes he has done nothing wrong. The Togo international scored City's third goal in a 4-2 win over the Gunners and caused controversy by running the length of the field to celebrate in front of the visiting supporters.
Adebayor, who left Arsenal this summer in a £25million deal, is also in trouble after appearing to stamp on the face of ex-team-mate Robin van Persie. Critics have called for the 25-year-old to be handed a suspension, but he argues that his celebrations were payback for the the Arsenal fans who had been insulting him throughout the game.
"I don't know what I have done wrong to get banned," said Adebayor in The Sun. "I have not heard the police or FA want to talk to me. The club have not said anything. It was silly to run up in front of the Arsenal fans. But these people have been insulting me all game. Even in the warm-up they were insulting me. They were saying things that are not nice to hear, personal things. I didn't plan it, not at all. I didn't even know that I would score. The way things were going from the warm-up, at the end it came into my head."
Adebayor apologised to a steward who was injured during the fracas after Gunners supporters reacted angrily to the striker's celebration. "I would like to apologise to the steward for what happened, why not?" he added.
Adebayor is also looking forward to playing against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on 24th April 2010. He said: "I can go and play at the Emirates for the return game, why not? I play for Manchester City and if they want me to go and play, I will play."
Adebayor also claims that Van Persie, who branded his former colleague's actions 'mindless and malicious', did not accept an apology after the match. He added: "After the game I saw him and said sorry but he didn't even want to speak to me."
