London, Feb 11 : Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has admitted that every game and every goal is precious to him now after his brush with death.

Adebayor scored a brilliant volley in City’s 2-0 win over Bolton on Tuesday, his third goal in as many games since returning from the African Nations Cup, where he escaped death after bullets ripped through the Togo team bus in the Angolan province of Cabinda last month.

Togo pulled out of the Cup after the attack left three members of the side’s staff dead.

“After Angola, I''m just happy to be on a football pitch. When it happened on January 8 - a Friday - around 2pm, I told myself that I might never be on a football pitch again, that I might never score goals any more. But God took a hand,” The Sun quoted Adebayor, as saying.

“Some people passed away and you have to be playing for them now - every time you put the shirt on, you have to be scoring for them. You have to enjoy it. I could have been buried somewhere. I love scoring goals but whenever I do now, I say ‘Yes, you are scoring goals - you could be in a coffin now, you could be in paradise, I don''t know’” he added.

Adebayor’s stunner against Bolton was his ninth goal in 16 league games this season and kept up City’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

In the league this season they have nine victories and three draws at home with no defeats, but away they have won just three, drawing five and losing four.

“At home we are playing quite well, but we have to focus on our game away and work on that. If we do, we can be dangerous for any team in this league,” Adebayor said.

He is also backing new manager Roberto Mancini to make sure they become just that.

“He''s Italian - they like working on tactics. He''s doing the job well. He''s told me to always be in front of the posts and I''ll keep doing my job,” Adebayor said. (ANI)