Adebayor spot-on for Gunners

Gunners secure victory as Hamburg win competition

Last updated: 3rd August 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Adebayor spot-on for Gunners

Adebayor: Spot-on

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Emmanuel Adebayor got himself back in the good books of Arsenal fans with the winner in the 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Emirates Cup.

The African striker, who was booed by some sections of the Arsenal crowd on Saturday against Juventus, turned the jeers to cheers with the winner from the penalty spot against the Spanish champions.

However, the game was somewhat marred by a serious looking injury sustained by Real's Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder with first impressions suggesting he suffered a cruciate knee ligament problem.

Arsenal began the brighter of the two sides and fashioned the first good opening on nine minutes when neat interplay involving Adebayor and Robin van Persie saw the Dutchman play in Theo Walcott who saw his angled shot saved by Jerzy Dudek.

Adebayor wasted a great chance to break the deadlock on 32 minutes when Van Persie picked him six yards from goal, but the Togo striker headed his effort over the top.

Real rarely threatened in the first half and their best effort came when Javi Garcia flashed a long-range effort just over Manuel Almunia's crossbar.

Dudek denied Arsenal the opener on 39 minutes when he scrambled to turn Denilson's scuffed volley round the post and from the resulting corner the former Liverpool goalkeeper was at full stretch to tip over Adebayor's header.

Penalty

Arsenal won a penalty three minutes after the break when Michel Salgado appeared to barge into the back of Van Persie inside the box.

Adebayor took responsibility from the spot and the big striker coolly placed his shot high into the net beyond Dudek to win some favour with the Arsenal fans.

Real Madrid suffered a blow just past the hour mark when Sneijder was stretchered off with a serious looking knee injury after a heavy tackle from Abou Diaby.

Adebayor came close to grabbing a second goal on 69 minutes when he burst into the box past a couple of Real Madrid challenges and was unfortunate to see his shot slide inches wide of the far post.

Success

Hamburg secured the Emirates Cup with a 3-0 win over Juventus in the earlier game at Emirates Stadium.

Paolo Guerrero gave Hamburg the lead on 19 minutes when he broke the Juventus offside trap and comfortably beat Antonio Chimenti in goal.

Juventus were denied an equaliser in the second half when Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost produced a superb save to keep out Amauri's header.

Hamburg caught Juventus on the break in stoppage time when Ivica Olic broke clear to score and there was still time for the Croatian to add a third seconds later when he lashed a shot from an acute angle high into the net.

The result and Arsenal's win over Real Madrid meant Martin Jol marked his return to North London with a bit of silverware.