Man Cuty boss claims no malice in Adebayor stamp

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes on Monday claimed there had been “no malice” in the Emmanuel Adebayor challenge that left his former Arsenal team-mate Robin van Persie with a gashed face.

Adebayor, signed by City from Arsenal for 25 million pounds last month, has been accused of deliberately stamping on van Persie during Saturday’s match in what the Dutch striker has condemned as a “mindless and malicious” assault.

Hughes, who faces the prospect of losing Adebayor for at least three matches starting with the Manchester derby at the weekend, insisted that the contact had been accidental.

“Emannuel Adebayor sustained a tremendous amount of personal abuse from the kick-off but strongly maintains that there was no malice intended in the challenge on Robin van Persie,” Hughes told his club’s website, www.mcfc.co.uk.

The City boss also claimed that Adebayor had apologised to van Persie when the two players hugged at the end of the match — a version of events disputed by the Arsenal player.

Most pundits however have concluded that Adebayor, who enjoyed an unhappy final year at Arsenal after being made a scapegoat for the club’s lack of silverware by the Gunners’ fans, did deliberately seek to make contact with van Persie.

The extent of any ban will depend on whether referee Mark Clattenburg, who missed the incident at the time, agrees with that view when he reviews it.

Hughes felt Clattenburg was in a good position to see what happened and argued that, therefore, the issue should be left there.

“The referee had a great view of the challenge from Ade and the one that preceded it by Van Persie and deemed at the time that neither were worthy of either a yellow or red card,” he said.

As well as facing a possible three-match ban for violent conduct, Adebayor is also likely to be charged with improper conduct after provocatively celebrating his goal in City’s 4-2 win in front of the Arsenal supporters.

That led to a steward being knocked unconscious by a missile thrown from the Arsenal section of the ground and Adebayor’s conduct has been severely criticised by Manchester police.