LONDON: Emmanuel Adebayor paid tribute to Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood after the Togo striker’s brace inspired a dramatic 3-1 win over 10-man Dnipro in the Europa League on Thursday.
Sherwood’s men were facing elimination in the last 32 second-leg tie at White Hart Lane when Ukrainian club Dnipro scored early in the second half.
Dnipro, managed by former Spurs boss Juande Ramos, had won the first leg 1-0 last week and Roman Zozulya’s 48th-minute header put them firmly in control of the return in north London.
But Spurs thrilled their fans with a superb fightback started by Christian Eriksen’s free-kick equaliser in the 56th minute.
The clash swung Tottenham’s way when Zozulya was sent off for a head-butt on Jan Vertonghen in the 62nd minute.
With Spurs suddenly rampant, former Arsenal star Adebayor struck in the 65th minute and netted again four minutes later to seal the 3-2 aggregate victory and set up a last-16 showdown with Portuguese giants Benfica.
Asked if he doubted whether Spurs could get back in the tie, Adebayor told ITV: “No, not at all. I knew we had quality up front and on the bench.
“They had the advantage from their place but we kept going forward and when Eriksen scored that put us on the front foot.”
Adebayor has now scored 11 goals in his last 15 games for Spurs and he was quick to give the credit for his renaissance to Sherwood, who brought the striker back into the team after he fell out with previous boss Andre Villas-Boas. Following a training ground row with Villas-Boas which featured Adebayor telling his manager why his tactics were destined to fail, the striker was banished from the first-team squad.
But Sherwood, who replaced Villas-Boas in December, has made Adebayor the focal point of his attack and he has responded superbly.
“I’m happy to get the two goals,” Adebayor said. “There’s a lot of things that went wrong in my family and today I’m very glad to be back scoring goals and happy with my team. I have to keep focused and keep going. “I just want to say a big thanks to Tim (Sherwood), the new gaffer, who has come in and given me my confidence back and the stage for me to perform.” (Agencies)
