Friend died in my arms during bus ambush, says Emmanuel Adebayor

Posted Thursday, January 14, 2010 by theguardian.com

Friend died in my arms during bus ambush, says Emmanuel Adebayor
'My personal press officer died in my hands, that is the worst image I have had in my life,' says Emmanuel Adebayor.

Emmanuel Adebayor has said he will need an extended break from football after revealing that one of the victims of the gun attack on Togo's team bus at the Africa Cup of Nations had died in his arms. The Manchester City striker has been granted compassionate leave and has told his employers that he is a long way from returning to England because of a trauma that has made him ill.

"It is very difficult because our press officer, who was my personal press officer, died in my hands," he said. "Until now that is the worst image I have had in my life. I always hear people say [you think] somebody is going to die in your hands and at the end that person survives. But I had the press officer in my hands to his last respiration and he passed away in my hands, so you can imagine it is very difficult.

"I will not be able to be on the pitch. Me standing on the pitch at the moment would be the worst thing I could do because I am not 100% yet. I have to start training first and recover first from what happened and play football. At the moment my head is not on football because you are talking about human beings' lives. I will take my time and come back on the pitch at the right time. My boss [City's manager, Roberto Mancini] and my team understand that; that is the most important thing. They know I need time to recover from this."

The Togo assistant manager and the bus driver were also killed in the attack in the Angolan exclave of Cabinda and Adebayor has returned to his country for three days of official mourning.

"At the moment I'm just weak and, as you can see, I am sweating every day and every day that God makes at the moment I can't even eat, I am losing weight. It is very difficult for everyone," Adebayor said.

City play Everton at Goodison Parkon Saturday but Adebayor will stay with his family in Togo's capital of Lomé and Mancini has told the former Arsenal striker to take as long as he needs. Although a date has not been settled for Adebayor's return to Manchester, it looks increasingly unlikely that he will play any part in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United on Tuesday.

Mancini has made it clear he will not attempt to rush the 25-year-old back. "He has lived through a terrible tragedy," the City manager said. "You can imagine the shock of a terrorist shooting at your bus and some of your closest friends. What counts more than anything is the man and he is extremely distressed."

Adebayor has not played for City since Mancini took over from Mark Hughes and in his absence the team have won their last three league games to move above Tottenham Hotspur into the fourth Champions League qualifying place.

"I appreciate what we are doing at the moment but my head is not on what we are scoring – my head is with the families that have lost their people," Adebayor said. "I'm just going to stay at home with all of my Togo team-mates. We are all together as one and fighting so that everyone can be a little bit free in their head."

Adebayor was wearing a City top as he addressed the television cameras, a day after he gave an interview wearing an Arsenal polo shirt. He explained that he had borrowed the Arsenal shirt from his brother after running away from the ambushed bus and leaving all his luggage behind. "I did not realise what I was wearing," he said. Following the trauma, he said, "in our heads we don't even know what we are doing".

Togo are no longer involved in the Africa Cup of Nations but Adebayor has made a public pledge to carry on playing for the nation as a mark of respect for the people who died.