Adebayor eyes happy ending after African Nations trauma

Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor is desperate to fire Manchester City into the Champions League as he tries to erase the awful memories of his country’s African Nations Cup tragedy.

Adebayor was with the Togo squad when their team coach was attacked by terrorists in Angola in an incident which left three people dead and forced the team to pull out of the tournament.

The trauma has left Adebayor mentally scarred but he has managed to put the nightmarish experience behind him for a while as he concentrates on leading City’s bid to finish fourth in the Premier League.

Roberto Mancini’s side are four points ahead of fifth placed Tottenham and can take another step towards wrapping up the final Champions League place if they beat arch rivals Manchester United at Eastlands on Saturday.

Adebayor, who scored twice in Sunday’s 5-1 win over Birmingham to take his tally for the season to 13 goals, said: “I am pleased with my form as this has been the worst season of my life.

“I got suspended, I got injured, I got attacked. I am just very happy on the pitch now and enjoying myself playing football.

“I am taking in every minute I can. I have my happiness back on the pitch.

“We have big confidence with some important games coming up and we are ready for them. We are scoring a lot of goals and that is good for us.

“We know it is going to be very difficult but our destiny is in our own hands.

“It is important we do everything to stay in that fourth position until the end of the season. Everyone is fighting to win games and we all have the same mentality.”

City have scored 14 goals in three games with Adebayor and Carlos Tevez tormenting opposition defences.

And Adebayor cannot wait to face Sir Alex Ferguson’s United, who are struggling to retain their title after a 0-0 draw against Blackburn on Sunday.

“United are one of the biggest clubs in Europe, so it is going to be a nice game. These are the matches as a striker you want to play in, ” he said.

“You want to play against the best defenders and the best teams. You want to test yourself.

“It is an important game for the club to see what we can do. Being at home with our fans behind us we will do our best and hopefully win the game.”