Villas-Boas refuses to blame Adebayor for Tottenham's defeat to Arsenal

Nov 17, 2012 5:30:00 PM

The Portuguese manager was pleased despite his side's 5-2 north London derby mauling at the hands of the Gunners, and says the referee was right to dismiss his striker

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has refused to blame striker Emmanuel Adebayor for his side's 5-2 defeat to north London rivals Arsenal on Saturday, after the striker was sent off after just 18 minutes.

The Togolese striker opened the scoring after 10 minutes, but was shown the red card following a reckless tackle on Santi Cazorla, with the Gunners going on to make full use of their one-man advantage.

Despite the loss, the Portuguese manager refused to lay the blame at the striker's feet and when asked by Sky Sports News whether the game swung on Adebayor's red card, he said: "No - first I am very, very proud of my players, I think it was too much time playing with 10 men.

"The sending off, these things happen in football. I think the referee made the right decision, but today I'm very proud of my team."

The 35-year-old chose to focus on other areas where he felt the game was lost - losing the third goal just before half-time, and Gareth Bale wasting a great opportunity to set up Jermain Defoe to reduce the deficit at 4-2.

He continued: "There are two key moments in the game; the 3-1 left us with a big margin to come back, but there were also a couple of chances for the 4-3.

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"Had we taken the game to a one-goal difference in the second half I think we could have gone all the way through because we certainly had the football, the passion, the ambition and the desire with 10 men, so I don't take it as a defeat.

"I take the result but I am extremely proud of the team."

The White Hart Lane boss revealed he will not punish Adebayor for his early red card, adding: "Players go to dispute the ball not with the intention to do any harm but sometimes situations like this happen."

The manager also suggested the nature of the crowd left him believing a shock comeback was on the cards, and disputed Arsenal's superiority in the game as purely being down to their numerical advantage.

"We wanted to go to 3-2 and the players really felt it, and really believed if they scored and brought the result to a one-goal margin [they could come back]. The stadium was very very unbalanced," he added.

"It's easy to do 20 passes and score a goal against a team with 10 men and look all brilliant, but I don't think we were so poor. I think we were very, very good and we certainly showed it between 11 and 10 men."

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German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will battle it out at Wembley for European glory. Get involved by sending us your thoughts via Twitter or Facebook! Hosted by Mark Doyle.

10:07 PM BST

Some early reaction from the man of the moment, Arjen Robben, who's unsurprisingly overcome with emotion.

"I heard so many people saying in the last weeks saying they would grant me this. They told me: 'You'll score the goal.' It’s not quite sunk in yet. There’s a lot of emotion.

"You know, this was such a close match. A match with two teams at the same level. It was an even game: they had chances; we had chances. For the goal, though, I just reacted to Franck's flick and then the ball went in."

You'll never hear or read a more simplistic description of the Dutchman's Champions League winner!

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Now it's Bayerns turn to climb Wembley's not-as-famous-as-they-used-to-be steps to collect their reward for sweeping all before them in Europe this season. They wait for their captain, Lahm, who takes a moment to compose himself before hoisting the Champions League trophy. After the misery of Munich 12 months ago, Bayern are now basking in the wonder of Wembley. Dortmund were magnificent but few could argue that Bayern have not been the best team in the Champions League this season. They deserve this, their inauguration as the new kings of Europe.

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Dortmund's crestfallen players are currently receiving their runners-up medals while Bayern are dancing down below. Such a contrast. Such a cruel game. But then, such is life. And life, as the Irish poet Keating memorably sang, is a rollercoaster - you've just got to ride it. Indeed, this fantastic Dortmund side will be back. Klopp will see to that - provided they don't keep losing all of their best players to Bayern of course ...

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Is it just me or is there a look of Tardelli about Robben in that pic below (albeit with less hair!)? His joy almost appears painful. Like it's all too much for him to take; that the enormity of what he's done, and what it means to him, is almost unbearable.

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We may have had a dramatic late winner at Wembley but that hasn't stopped us getting our match report and player ratings out bang on time. Both goalkeepers were absolutely sensational tonight but, for me, perhaps for sentimental reasons, Robben's man of the match. Once Bayern belatedly got themselves into the game, he was their principal goalscoring threat.

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