Emmanuel Adebayor reveals the reason behind his infamous celebration against Arsenal

Emmanuel Adebayor reveals the reason behind infamous Arsenal celebration

Emmanuel Adebayor has revealed the reason behind his infamous celebration against Arsenal in September 2009, which sparked mass outrage from the Gunners faithful at the time.

Adebayor was plying his trade for Manchester City and he netted at the Etihad to give the Citizens the lead. However, the former Monaco striker ran the whole length of the pitch to celebrate in-front of the Arsenal away fans. The celebration sparked fury amongst the travelling supporters, before Adebayor’s team-mates began to pull back the striker to avoid more trouble.

Adebayor’s current club Tottenham Hotspur sacked manager Tim Sherwood recently, which was met by sympathy from rival manager Arsene Wenger.

In an exclusive interview with the Express, Adebayor was interviewed by Fabrice Muamba and he revealed why he did what he did at the time.

Muamba: “Ade, this is the question. What made you do that run? Why? Why? You scored at that end, yeah? The pitch is long – it is a very long pitch at Man City. You score at one end but you decided to run all the way down there… why?”

Adebayor: “Why? It is because I am a human being as well. I have got a heart and I breathe like anybody does.”

Muamba: “But there is a better way to answer people other than rubbing it in their faces. Like ‘I am still the man’.”

Adebayor: “Because when I left Arsenal, they said, ‘That’s Adebayor finished. Adebayor cannot play football any more’. I can remember when I felt it because we had a meeting at the stadium that morning around 10. I was the first person to be there, 9.30am. I could hear the fans singing, already, ‘My mother is a whore. My father washes elephants.’”

“I am sorry. Those things have no place in football. And when I scored, at the end of the day, the fans had been giving me stick. I cannot give anybody stick. I cannot abuse them on the pitch. All I could do was score a goal and celebrate and that is what I have done.”

Muamba: “Do you think you are the No1 enemy at Arsenal now in terms of the fans?”

Adebayor: “I don’t want to know who is my enemy. All I want to know is who are my friends. My friends are Tottenham fans today. I play for Tottenham. I don’t care about Arsenal.”