Emmanuel Adebayor returned from suspension to keep Manchester City’s Champions League dream alive.
The striker failed to score for the first time this season but still set up a goal for Craig Bellamy that gave Manchester City a 1-1 draw away to Aston Villa.
It was City old boy, Richard Dunne, who gave his new club the lead after 15 minutes with a towering header. Dunne outjumped former Villa captain Gareth Barry for the ball, and then he refrained from celebrating out of respect for City.
“It’s amazing how these things happen,’ said Dunne, who scored only seven goals in 296 games at City. I don’t have a celebration, if I score it’s very surprising, it was just one of those things, I enjoyed my time at City and respect everyone there and I thought it was the right thing to do.”
City manager Mark Hughes said:
“We’re pleased Dunny is doing well but we’d have preferred he hadn’t scored against us.”
Villa manager Martin O’Neill was not happy with dropping another point at home saying:
“I’m disappointed with the result, but not with the performance. The team were absolutely fantastic. We haven’t played better. But they’re a very good team and you’re not going to outplay them for the whole game.”