Adebayor hat-trick shoots Monaco to victory

MONACO: A virtuoso display by Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor helped shoot Monaco back to winning ways in a 4-0 victory over Montpellier in Friday night’s sole French league match.

After a first half which did little to excite the sparse crowd at the Louis II Stadium, Adebayor and Fernando Morientes got on target with opportunist goals to consign Monaco’s recent average performances to the past. League leaders Monaco had only amassed six points out of a possible 18 in their six previous matches, but coach Didier Deschamps must have been delighted to see the sparks flying in front of Montpellier’s goal.

In the 48th minute, Hugo Ibarra fired a long ball up field and Adebayor showed strength and athleticism to chest the ball down to the right before firing to the left past keeper Rudy Riou. Less than a minute later, Adebayor was in the thick of the action once more. He managed to dispossess Nicolas Godemeche who was running upfield from central defence before feeding the ball to Morientes.

Morientes ran into the box before deftly chipping with his right foot just inside the left hand post as hapless defenders tried in vain to clear the danger. In the 57th minute, Adebayor latched on to a long ball upfield by Edouard Cisse and controlled the ball perfectly before lobbing it over outrushing keeper Riou. Adebayor was celebrating his hat-trick with 13 minutes left. Croatian striker Dado Prso went up to challenge for the ball with keeper Riou, and, with Riou still on the floor, the ball fell to Adebayor who shot into an empty net from the edge of the box. The defence of third-from-bottom Montpellier looked disorganized for most of the match and recent form – Montpellier have now conceded 31 goals in their last 11 matches – suggests they have work to do in this department. —AFP

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