Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has shown little remorse for the stamp on Arsenal's Robin van Persie for which he received a three-game, claiming that he can't feel sorry for something he did not intend to do.
He has also asserted that the abuse he received from Gunners players and supporters had pushed him to the limit of his self-control, contributing to the 90 metre sprint to celebrate his goal in front of the Arsenal fans for which he received an additional charge of improper conduct which is yet to be judged.
"I am sorry Robin got hurt, but I can't regret something I did not mean to do," Adebayor told The Sun.
"Anybody who knows me knows I would not set out to hurt anybody and I would especially not mean to hurt an old team-mate.
"I really am glad Robin was OK because I know my stud was close to his eye, but there was really nothing I could have done - there was no way I could have got out of the way in time."
As for his celebration, the Togolese asserts that he felt justified simply because of the sheer volume of invective which had been directed his way over the course of the game. He added: "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 and the abuse was for no reason.
"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. I was running on pure emotion and when you take emotion out of football we are going to have a big problem.
"People say I had time to think because I ran the length of the pitch, but that is not true. 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 also claims that some of his former colleagues at Arsenal were less than civil with him ahead of the game, refusing to shake his hand before kick-off.
"There were players from Arsenal who refused to shake my hand before the match," he explained.
"I don't want to give you their names - that is not my style - but there's more than one of them.
"My friends, like Eboue, were fine with me. They are decent people. But I could not understand some of the Arsenal players being disrespectful towards me."
Source: Goal.com
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