Samuel Eto'o

Samuel Eto'o Fils (born 10 March 1981 in Douala) is a Cameroonian Association football who plays as a Forward (association football) for Serie A club F.C. Internazionale Milano.

Eto'o scored over 100 goals in five seasons with FC Barcelona, and is also the record holder in number of appearances by an African player in La Liga. As of June 2009, Samuel Eto'o is the 4th highest goalscorer in Barça's history and the only member of the squad to be in the top 10. Samuel Eto'o is one of only two players, along with Raúl González, to have scored in two separate UEFA Champions League finals.

As a member of the Cameroon national football team, Samuel Eto'o was a part of the squad that won the Football at the 2000 Summer Olympics; Samuel Eto'o has participated in two FIFA World Cup and five Africa Cup of Nations (being champion twice), and is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the African Nations Cup, with 16 goals.

Club career

Real Madrid

Samuel Eto'o joined Real Madrid C.F. in 1997, but Samuel Eto'o could only train with Real Madrid Castilla, as Samuel Eto'o was still a minor. Real Madrid B were relegated to the Segunda División B, where non-European Union players are not allowed, and as a result Samuel Eto'o was loaned to second-division CD Leganés for the 1997-98 season.

Mallorca

The following two seasons, Samuel Eto'o went to first-division squad RCD Mallorca on loan. In Samuel Eto'o second season, Samuel Eto'o scored 11 goals and began to garner attention throughout the league. Mallorca club president Mateo Alemany said of Samuel Eto'o style of play: "I doubt if there is any other player in the world who would please the fans more at this moment." Samuel Eto'o commented on Samuel Eto'o rise to stardom, "I like it here in Mallorca, I have always been well looked after, the fans appreciate me and I also have a contract that runs until 2007." Samuel Eto'o returned the fans' appreciation when Samuel Eto'o donated €30,000 in meals to travelling Mallorca supporters who made the journey to the Copa del Rey final against Recreativo de Huelva in 2003. Mallorca won the match 3–0 with Eto'o scoring two late goals to seal the victory. However, Samuel Eto'o volatile attitude resulted in several off-pitch incidents. Bartolome Terrassa, a television journalist, filed a formal complaint after a run-in with Eto'o in the club's parking lot, accusing the player of saying, "The next time, you are not going to escape; I'm going to kill you." This was not the first incident, however, as the previous year Eto'o's former agent, Daniel Argibeaut, accused the player of assaulting Samuel Eto'o with four accomplices, saying, "They then took off my shoes, which in Cameroon means I am threatened with death." Initially, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez wanted to buy back the full transfer rights and loan Samuel Eto'o out again but eventually the Barcelona deal proved lucrative enough to warrant a sale. Additionally, the team already had its full quota of three non-EU players. Samuel Eto'o signed a improved contract with Barça in June 2005. Few days after Lionel Messi agreed similar deal.

After missing out on the previous year's Pichichi Trophy (top La Liga goalscorer), Eto'o edged out Valencia CF striker David Villa for the award during the final matchday on 20 May 2006 when Samuel Eto'o scored Samuel Eto'o 26th goal of the season against Athletic Bilbao. Eto'o was very gracious to teammates after the game saying, "It has been a team effort although only one person gets the award. We've worked hard all season and have got our just rewards."

Eto'o also contributed six goals during Barcelona's run to the UEFA Champions League 2005-06 title. In 2006 UEFA Champions League Final, Arsenal F.C. goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off early on for bringing down Eto'o just outside of the penalty area, but the Catalans struggled to capitalize on their one-man advantage until Eto'o scored the game-tying goal in the second half. Barcelona went on to win the match 2–1 and Eto'o was awarded with the UEFA Best Forward of the Year award for Samuel Eto'o accomplishments in the European campaign.

Eto'o also won an historic third consecutive African Player of the Year award that season. Samuel Eto'o said in Samuel Eto'o acceptance speech, "Above all, I dedicate this to all the children of Africa." Samuel Eto'o was also selected to Samuel Eto'o second straight FIFPro World XI and finished third in the running for the FIFA World Player of the Year, making Samuel Eto'o only the second African footballer ever to be voted into the top three.

The season started badly for Eto'o as Samuel Eto'o ruptured the Meniscus (anatomy) in Samuel Eto'o right knee during Barcelona's Champions League group stage match against SV Werder Bremen on 27 September 2006. FC Barcelona team physician Ricard Pruna originally estimated that the injury would keep Samuel Eto'o out of action for two to three months. After the operation Eto'o's recovery time was extended to five months but Samuel Eto'o resumed training with Barcelona in early January 2007.

2007–2009

Eto'o refused to come on as a substitute in a league match against Racing de Santander on 11 February 2007. FC Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard said after the match, "Samuel Eto'o did not want to come on; I don't know why." Ronaldinho was critical of Eto'o's actions, saying that Eto'o was not putting the team first but Eto'o rebutted the comment, claiming that Samuel Eto'o did not come on because Samuel Eto'o did not have enough time to warm up properly. Three months later, Eto'o said, "These kind of things are usually just speculation and don't come through to me. However, if it is true that I am a problem for my team then I will go. But like I said, I am happy here. The press can write what they want." Following the comments, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta was quick to quash rumours of transfers involving Eto'o and Ronaldinho.

After aggravating a meniscus injury on 28 August during a summer friendly against F.C. Internazionale Milano, Eto'o was sidelined indefinitely. On 17 October, in the midst of Samuel Eto'o recovery period, Samuel Eto'o gained Spanish citizenship. Samuel Eto'o was cleared to play again on 4 December, and returned to the side a week later in Barcelona's 2-1 league win over Deportivo de La Coruña.

Eto'o recorded Samuel Eto'o first league hat-trick in a match against UD Levante on 24 February 2008. Samuel Eto'o finished with a total of 16 league goals in 18 appearances for the season. On 25 October, Samuel Eto'o recorded the fastest hat-trick in club history after netting three times in 23 minutes in a victory over UD Almería.

On 29 November 2008, Samuel Eto'o scored Samuel Eto'o 111th career Barcelona goal in all competitions in a 3-0 road win over Sevilla FC, moving Samuel Eto'o into the club's top ten all-time goalscorers.

On 14 February 2009, Samuel Eto'o scored Samuel Eto'o 99th and Samuel Eto'o 100th league goals for Barcelona in a 2-2 draw with Real Betis. Eto'o scored Samuel Eto'o 30th goal of the 2008-09 season in a La Liga match against Real Valladolid. The game ended 1-0 and meant that Barcelona kept a 6 point lead over Real Madrid in the league. Samuel Eto'o also scored against Villarreal CF in the game that put Barcelona one point away from lifting the 2008-09 La Liga.

Eto'o scored the opening goal in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester United becoming only the second ever player, after Raúl González, to score in two UEFA Champions League finals. Barcelona went on to win the final 2–0, thus completing the Treble (association football).

Internazionale

After Maxwell Cabelino Andrade completed the transfer from Internazionale, Joan Laporta confirmed that there is an agreement in principle between Barcelona and Internazionale for Zlatan Ibrahimović to join the club in exchange for Eto'o and €46 million. After Ibrahimović agreed terms with Barcelona, the club announced Eto'o and Aliaksandr Hleb will travel to Milan for medical to complete the transfer.. On 27 July 2009 Eto'o passed the medical and signed for 5 years with Internazionale.

International career

Eto'o earned Samuel Eto'o first cap with Cameroon national football team at age 14 on 9 March 1996, in a 5–0 friendly loss to Costa Rica national football team. In 1998, Samuel Eto'o was the youngest participant in the 1998 FIFA World Cup when Samuel Eto'o appeared in a 3–0 group stage loss to Italy national football team on 17 June 1998, at the age of 17 years and three months. Eto'o scored Samuel Eto'o sole goal of the 2002 FIFA World Cup when Samuel Eto'o netted the game-winner against Saudi Arabia national football team during the group stage on 6 June 2002, which was Cameroon's only win of the competition.

Eto'o was a part of the squads that won the 2000 African Cup of Nations and 2002 African Cup of Nations, and was a gold medalist at the Football at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which Cameroon finished as runners-up, Samuel Eto'o scored Samuel Eto'o only goal in a 1–0 group-stage upset of Brazil national football team on 19 June. Cameroon were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2006 African Cup of Nations after Eto'o missed the decisive penalty in a 12–11 shoot-out loss to Côte d'Ivoire national football team following a 1–1 draw, but Samuel Eto'o nonetheless finished as the top scorer of the tournament with five goals. Samuel Eto'o missed a team practice before the quarterfinals to attend the CAF African Player of the Year award ceremonies in Togo.

In the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, Eto'o became joint leading goalscorer (along with Laurent Pokou) in the competition's history after scoring Samuel Eto'o fourteenth goal with a penalty against Zambia national football team on 26 January 2008. In the following game against Sudan national football team on 30 January, Eto'o converted another penalty to become the tournament's all time leading scorer, followed by another goal in the same match that took Samuel Eto'o Africa Cup of Nations tally to 16. Samuel Eto'o finished as the top scorer for the second consecutive tournament, matching Samuel Eto'o 2006 total of five goals.

On 1 June 2008, Eto'o headbutted reporter Philippe Bony, following an incident at a press conference. Bony suffered an injury, but Eto'o later apologized for the altercation, offering to pay Bony's medical expenses.

Racism

Eto'o has experienced racial abuse in some away matches; while some ignore the insults, Eto'o, Barcelona teammate Thierry Henry, and Vitória F.C. defender Marco Zoro have reacted by being outspoken in their criticism and threatening to leave the pitch.

In February 2005, during an away match with Real Zaragoza, Eto'o was the subject of racist taunts by Zaragoza supporters, who began making monkey-like chants and tossed peanuts onto the pitch whenever Samuel Eto'o had possession of the ball. However, the referee, Fernando Carmona Méndez, made no mention of the incidents in Samuel Eto'o match report, commenting only that the behavior of the crowd was "normal"; two of the abusers were caught and given five-month sporting-event bans after being identified to police by other spectators. Eto'o later declared that the punishment was insufficient and that La Romareda should have been closed for at least one year, but Frank Rijkaard told Samuel Eto'o to concentrate on football and to stop talking about the incident. However, infuriated again by Zaragoza fans' racist chants the next season, Eto'o attempted to walk off the pitch in protest. Samuel Eto'o teammates intervened and convinced Samuel Eto'o to continue playing. Video of the incident captured Samuel Eto'o saying "No más" ("No more") as Samuel Eto'o walked to the sidelines.

Due to ongoing racism from La Liga crowds, Eto'o no longer brings family members, especially Samuel Eto'o children, to matches. "It is something that has affected me personally. I think players, leaders, and the media have to join forces so that no one feels looked down upon because of the color of their skin. At this moment in time I prefer my children don't go to football matches. In the stands they have to listen to things that are difficult to explain to a child. It is better they aren't exposed to it."

Personal life

Eto'o has two brothers: David Eto'o, who plays for CF Reus Deportiu in the Tercera División, and Etienne Eto'o, who plays for RCD Mallorca. Eto'o married Samuel Eto'o longtime sweetheart Georgette on 6 July 2007. They have three children together: Étienne, Maelle, and Siena, who all live along with Georgette in Paris, France.