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Wikipedia
Samuel Eto'o Fils (French pronunciation: [samɥɛl eto fis], commonly known as Samuel Eto'o; born 10 March 1980) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Italian Serie A club Internazionale and is currently captain of the Cameroon national team.[3] Eto'o trained at Kadji Sports Academy.[4] He also holds a Spanish passport to enable him not to count among the 'foreign' players' in the European Union.
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.[5] In 2010, he became the first player to win two European Continental Trebles following his back-to-back achievements with Barcelona and Internazionale. He is the second player to have ever scored in two separate UEFA Champions League finals and the fourth player, after Marcel Desailly, Paulo Sousa and Gerard Piqué, to have won the UEFA Champions League two years in a row with different teams.[6] He is the most decorated African player of all time having won the African Player of the Year award a record four times in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2010. He is the first ever player to win two trebles back to back.
As a member of the Cameroon national team, he was a part of the squad that won the 2000 Olympic tournament; he has participated in three World Cups and six African Nations Cups (being champion twice), and is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the African Nations Cup, with 18 goals
Club career
Real Madrid
Samuel Eto'o joined Real Madrid in 1997, but he could only train with Real Madrid B, as he was still a minor. Real Madrid B were relegated to the third tier, Segunda División B, where non-EU players are not allowed, and as a result he was loaned to second-division CD Leganés for the 1996–97 season, when he was only in the tenth grade.[7] After making 30 appearances for the club and only scoring 4 goals, he returned to Madrid following the end of the 1997–98 season. In January 1999, he was loaned out to Espanyol,[8] but failed to make any appearances for the club.Mallorca
The same season, in the winter transfer window, he went to La Liga team Mallorca on loan, scoring 6 goals in 19 games. At the end of the season, Eto'o left Real Madrid, signing a permanent deal with Mallorca for a club record £4.4 million fee.[9]In his second season, he scored 11 goals and began to garner attention throughout the league. Mallorca club president Mateo Alemany said of his style of play: "I doubt if there is any other player in the world who would please the fans more at this moment."[7] Eto'o himself commented on his 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." He returned the fans' appreciation when he donated €30,000 in meals to travelling Mallorca supporters who made the journey to the Copa del Rey final against Recreativo Huelva in 2003.[10] Mallorca won the match 3–0 with Eto'o scoring two late goals to seal the victory.[11] However, his 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 him with four accomplices, saying, "They then took off my shoes, which in Cameroon means I am threatened with death."[10]
Eto'o departed Mallorca as the club's all-time leading domestic league scorer (54 goals) when he signed for FC Barcelona in the summer of 2004 for a transfer fee of €24 million, after lengthy three-way negotiations with Mallorca and Madrid.[12] Initially, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez wanted to buy back the full transfer rights and loan him out again but eventually the Barcelona deal proved lucrative enough to warrant a sale.[13] Additionally, the team already had its full quota of three non-EU players.[12]
Barcelona
2004–2007
After missing out on the previous year's Pichichi trophy, which is given to the topscorer in La Liga, Eto'o edged out Valencia CF striker David Villa for the award during the final matchday on 20 May 2006 when he scored his 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."[16]
Eto'o also contributed six goals during Barcelona's run to the 2005–06 Champions League title. In the final, Arsenal 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 his accomplishments in the European campaign.[17][18]
Eto'o also won an historic third consecutive African Player of the Year award that season. He said in his acceptance speech, "Above all, I dedicate this to all the children of Africa."[19] He was also selected to his second straight FIFPro World XI and finished third in the running for the FIFA World Player of the Year, making him only the second African footballer ever to be voted into the top three.[20][21]
The season started badly for Eto'o as he ruptured the meniscus in his right knee during Barcelona's Champions League group stage match against Werder Bremen on 27 September 2006. Barcelona team physician Ricard Pruna originally estimated that the injury would keep him out of action for two to three months.[22] After the operation Eto'o's recovery time was extended to five months but he resumed training with Barcelona in early January 2007.[23][24]
[edit] 2007–2009
Eto'o refused to come on as a substitute in a league match against Racing Santander on 11 February 2007. Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard said after the match, "He did not want to come on; I don't know why."[25] 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 he did not come on because he did not have enough time to warm up properly.[26][27] 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, Barcelona president Joan Laporta was quick to quash rumours of transfers involving Eto'o and Ronaldinho.[28]After aggravating a meniscus injury on 28 August during a summer friendly against Internazionale, Eto'o was sidelined indefinitely.[29] On 17 October, in the midst of his recovery period, he gained Spanish citizenship.[30] He 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 La Coruña.[31][32]
Eto'o recorded his first league hat-trick in a match against UD Levante on 24 February 2008.[33] He finished with a total of 16 league goals in 18 appearances for the season.[34] On 25 October, he recorded the fastest hat-trick in club history after netting three times in 23 minutes in a victory over UD Almería.[35] Only two games later, on 8 November 2008, Eto'o scored four goals in the first half of Barcelona's game vs. Real Valladolid, which ended 6–0.
On 29 November 2008, he scored his 111th career Barcelona goal in all competitions in a 3–0 road win over Sevilla, moving him into the club's top ten all-time goalscorers.[36]
On 14 February 2009, he scored his 99th and his 100th league goals for Barcelona in a 2–2 draw with Real Betis. Eto'o scored his 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. He 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. Barcelona went on to win the final 2–0, thus completing the Treble.
Internazionale
On 27 July 2009 Eto'o passed his medical and signed for five years with Internazionale.[41] On his first press-conference in Milan he declared that he was where he wanted to be and refused to compare himself to Ibrahimović saying: "I'm Samuel Eto'o and I don't want to compare myself to anyone. I believe the victories I have earned up to now can contribute to giving the right value to my name."[42] On the 8 August, Eto'o scored his first competitive goal for Inter, in the 2009 Supercoppa Italiana.[43] Two weeks later, Eto'o scored from the penalty spot against A.S. Bari in his first Serie A match. In the following match, the Milan Derby, Eto'o won Inter a penalty, after being brought down by Gennaro Gattuso in the box. This was important because that penalty caused Gattuso to be yellow-carded. He would eventually be sent off. Eto'o scored again on 13 September against Parma, his first goal from open play in a Serie A match.[44]
At the end of September 2009, Eto'o demanded almost £2.75m from Barcelona after his transfer to Inter. The amount represented 15% of the US$29 million (£17.7m) fee which Inter paid Barcelona in July 2009. The demand was based on a Spanish rule that a player should get 15% of the amount of his transfer to another Spanish club. If the parties failed to reach a solution the matter could go to court.[45]
Eto'o scored two goals during a thrilling win over Palermo which ended 5–3, with a brace also being scored by Mario Balotelli.[46] Eto'o also scored in the Champion's league round-of-16 against Chelsea, in the 2nd leg on 16 March 2010, which allowed Inter to progress to the quarter-finals.On the 5th of May 2010, Eto'o and his team mates helped Inter to lift the Italian Cup after defeating A S Roma 1–0 at the Stadio Olimpico. Inter's goal was scored by Argentine's Diego Milito.
On 22 May 2010, Eto'o played in the third Champions League final of his career, and with Internazionale's triumph over Bayern Munich became the only player to win the treble in consecutive seasons.[47] On 21 August 2010, Eto'o scored twice as Internazionale beat AS Roma 3–1 to win the Italian Super Cup.[48] His first hat trick for Internazionale occurred in the UEFA Champions League against the German team Werder Bremen on 29 September 2010.[49] Internazionale won the game 4 – 0, with Eto'o saying "We will remain humble because we know that there are sides out there that are better than us, so we will just take it one match at a time and we will go as far as it takes us". Inter Milan announced it would appeal the three-match ban of striker Samuel Eto'o on Tuesday for headbutting Chievo defender Bostjan Cesar during the 2–1 defeat in Verona on Sunday. A statement from the club said: "Inter announces that it will appeal against the three-match ban handed to Samuel Eto'o." On 21 November 2010, Eto'o attracted controversy after headbutting Bostjan Cesar in a game against Chievo Verona. Eto's aggressive reaction to a perceived foul play by the Slovenian was not noticed by the referee of the game, but he was subsequently banned for 3 matches, following an investigation by the Italian disciplinary committee.
International career
Eto'o was a part of the squads that won the 2000 and 2002 Africa Cup of Nations, and was a gold medalist at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which Cameroon finished as runners-up, he scored his only goal in a 1–0 group-stage upset of Brazil on 19 June. Cameroon were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations after Eto'o missed the decisive penalty in a 12–11 shoot-out loss to Côte d'Ivoire following a 1–1 draw, but he nonetheless finished as the top scorer of the tournament with five goals. He missed a team practice before the quarterfinals to attend the CAF African Footballer 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 his fourteenth goal with a penalty against Zambia on 26 January 2008. In the following game against Sudan 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 his Cup of Nations tally to 16.[50] He finished as the top scorer for the second consecutive tournament, matching his 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.[51]
In the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Gabon, Eto'o scored a goal in the 68th minute. He followed it up with another goal in the home fixture. He now leads the scoring chart with eight qualification goals. Eto'o scored in the World Cup Qualification match against Morocco to win Cameroon a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament.
On Tuesday 1 December 2009 Eto'o came in 5th for the Ballon d'Or, which was taken by his former teammate Lionel Messi.
On 19 June 2010, Eto'o scored a goal in Cameroon's 2010 World Cup group stage match against Denmark, from a mistake by Christian Poulsen. Cameroon eventually lost the game 2–1 and was eliminated from the World Cup. Eto'o described it as the biggest disappointment of his career. In December 2010, Eto'o become the first man to be named African Player of the Year for a fourth time.[52]
International goals
| Goal | Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|
Personal life
Eto'o has two brothers: David, who plays for Kadji Sports Academy in the MTN Elite One league in Cameroon, and Étienne, who is currently on loan to Pobla de Mafumet CF from Gimnàstic de Tarragona. Eto'o married his 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.[54]Racism
Eto'o has experienced racial abuse in some away matches. Eto'o along with former Barcelona teammate Thierry Henry, and Vitória de Setúbal 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 onto the pitch whenever he had possession of the ball. However, the referee, Fernando Carmona Méndez, made no mention of the incidents in his 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.[55][56] 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 him 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.[57] His teammates intervened and convinced him to continue playing. Video of the incident captured him saying "No más" ("No more") as he walked to the sidelines.[58]
On October 17, 2010 in a game vs. Cagliari after just three minutes of play the referee halted the match to give a warning to the Cagliari fans for their racist comment, which were directed towards Eto'o. After the play was resumed the rest of the stadium chanted loudly in an attempt to drown out the racist chants in order for the match to not to be stopped. Ironically Inter would go on to win 1–0 thanks to an Eto'o goal in the 39th minute.[59]
Due to ongoing racism from La Liga crowds, Eto'o stopped bringing family members 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 colour 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.
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