Emmanuel Adebayor believes he was fully justified to taunt Arsenal fans because of the abuse he received from them. But he failed to explain why he slapped Alexandre Song.
The Manchester City striker angered Gunners supporters by running the length of the Eastlands pitch ( Manchester City home stadium) to celebrate his goal in a 4-2 win over his former club the other weekend.
Adebayor's actions led to a booking and an improper conduct charge from the FA, despite apologizing straight after the game. But he has revealed why he did it - to ram the vile chants from fans back down their throats.
Adebayor, who left Arsenal with Kolo Toure in the end of last season, said: "People talk about us as being football players and the money we earn, but just because we are fortunate it does not mean we need to take abuse.
"If you were to abuse a man in the street for over an hour he would react and it would be a worse reaction than a goal celebration! There is only so much abuse a man can take until he reaches breaking point. I was being abused by people who six months ago were singing my name.
"I scored and I wanted to show people it is not a good idea to abuse me. I really didn't understand it at all.
The £25million (about 20 billion frs CFA) hitman, who claims he suffered 60 minutes of non-stop abuse, said: "I was running on pure emotion and when you take emotion out of football we are going to have a big problem.
"I was abused all match and scored a goal I knew would win the game for us. Ten seconds is nothing. Your emotion is going to last a lot longer than that."
Adebayor, whose 80th-minute header put City 3-1 up at the weekend, said: "I know a steward got hurt and I really do want to say sorry for that because he didn't ask for any of this - he was just a man doing his job.
"Emotions were running high for me and it is obvious they were for Arsenal fans as well.
"They had just seen me score the goal that meant they had lost the game and that was very hard for them to take. Players should feel like they can celebrate a goal without the fear of being hit by things.
Adebayor says he was wound up ahead of the Premier League game after being snubbed by some of his old Gunners team-mates. "There were players from Arsenal who refused to shake my hand before the match. When a man offers you his hand, you shake it."
Adebayor also insists he never asked boss Arsene Wenger to let him leave Arsenal last season. "An offer came in for me and, as I understand it, Arsene and the club accepted the offer the same day. It was not my fault I left.
"I have said many times I enjoyed my time at the club and I scored a lot of goals. If they were unhappy with me leaving they need to take it up with their manager and their board because I had nothing to do with the sale." |
Cameroon’s four stars in the UEFA Champions League displayed character and power in match-day 2 action played on 29th and 30th September for their various clubs but not everyone came out smiling.
