Adebayor: Babel Penalty Like In PlayStation

The Togolese striker had just scored for Arsenal to level the scores at 2-2 on the night, 3-3 on aggregate, with only seven minutes remaining at Anfield.

"That penalty for Liverpool, to be honest, for me it was like I was watching a video or a game on a PlayStation," he said. "Why? Because I just couldn't believe it."

"We were trying to do something, to equalise and it was not easy and then six minutes from the end of the game we did it, we came back to 2-2. As a player you think, 'We came back to 2-2, we had a good chance and we lost'. You must know what I mean. We were in the Champions League semi-final and you can imagine how excited we must have been.

“If I remember, [Fernando] Torres passed the ball to somebody – maybe [Dirk] Kuyt? – and when they passed the ball to Babel I was praying and watching. Then I saw the penalty had been given and I was like 'oooofff'."

"To be five minutes. Away. From a semi-final. We didn't take that chance and to be honest that is very difficult to accept. At 2-1 you can understand [if you lose] but when you get it back to 2-2 and you are going through and all you need is to hang on for six minutes – I think that is even more painful."

The Gunners looked in prime position to secure the Premiership going into February, sporting a six-point lead at one stage. But a series of disappointing results has derailed their campaign to bring the Premier League crown back to North London, and Adebayor has pointed the finger squarely at their failure to beat supposedly beatable teams such as Middlesbrough, Birmingham City and Wigan.

"You can feel that those are the games that, no matter what happens, you have to win," he said. "When you see Birmingham or Aston Villa you see the team and inside you think, 'We can win 1-0, minimum'. You know what I mean? We had the penalty against Birmingham [which allowed James McFadden to equalise in the last minute], then there was Wigan. But at the end of the day those are the most difficult games you can play in England.

"You play against Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United, it's a different game, they are all big stars and they want to play football. Playing against them, most of the time it is easier playing against Manchester than Wigan because [against United] everyone is in position; they know what to do when they get the ball. When I get the ball [against United] I have a chance to get one against one because they play attacking football as well. You match up and you have a lot of chances to score. It can be 2-2, 4-2.

"When you play against Wigan or Everton, I'm sorry, I respect them a lot but the first thing is they work hard defensively and then offensively it is like, 'We will see what we can do'. It is always complicated, it is always difficult.

“These are the games that are going to be most difficult as a player. To be a champion, no matter what happens, you have to win against Middlesbrough and Wigan and Everton. They are the teams that you have to beat. It's no good if you beat Manchester, Liverpool, Chelsea if you've have lost against Middlesbrough and Villa.

“In our heads we think games like Wigan are going to be easy and when we step on the pitch it is not as easy as we think. It means that in our heads we are not ready."