Part 2: Player Profile – Samuel Eto’o
After signing the deal, he started featuring as a regular player for the club and he managed to score 11 goals as he began to gain attention from other league teams. He himself told the press that he was loving Mallorca’s style
of play and wanted to feature for the club more often. In the final match of Copa del Rey against Recreativo Huevla in the year 2003, Samuel Eto’o scored 2 goals as his team won the match 3-0.
Eto’o left Mallorca as he had scored 54 goals for the club, which was the highest number of goals scored by any player in Mallorca. In 2004, he managed to sign for one of the biggest clubs in the Spanish La Liga, Barcelona. The
transfer fee was 24 million Euros and it was decided that the Cameroonian player is going to play for the Blaugrana giants.
Samuel Eto’o made his debut for his new club, Barcelona against Racing Santander on August 29th 2004. Barcelona won the match and also the La Liga title that year and it was Eto’o who managed to slap his former club
Real Madrid. It was Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi who signed a similar deal together with Barcelona.
Even though he missed out on the Pichichi trophy, the title that is given to the top scorer of La Liga, it was Samuel Eto’o who outran the Valencia striker David Villa as he managed to score more goals than any other Spanish La
Liga player. He scored 26 goals in one season and his last goal came off against Athletic Bilbao. He applauded the whole team as he won the award for his efforts in scoring goals for the Spanish club, Barcelona.
Samuel Eto’o also contributed in the six goals that Barcelona scored in the 2005-2006 Champions League in which they actually won the final match. In the final match of the UEFA Champions League 2006, Arsenal’s goalkeeper Jens
Lehmann was sent off early as he brought down the Cameroonian right outside the 18 yard box. However, Arsene Wenger’s side totally surprised them by scoring the first goal but later in the second half it was Samuel Eto’o who came forward and scored the first
goal for Barcelona to bring both the teams on even terms. Later on Barcelona went on to win the match 2-1 against the English side Arsenal featuring players like Thierry Henry. Later that season, Samuel Eto’o won the UEFA forward of the year award as he scored
many goals for his team.
Later on he managed to win the third consecutive African player of the year award. In the same year he accomplished so much that he came third in the FIFA World Player of the Year and became the only African footballer who managed
to come in the top 3.
The next season started badly for the Cameroonian player and he was the one who found himself sidelined because of the meniscus injury that he suffered during Barcelona’s Champions’ League group stage fixture against the German
team, Werder Bremen. His injury kept him out for 5 months as he had his surgery to make his “conditions” better.
Samuel Eto’o told the team that he did not want to come on against Racing Santander on the 11th of February 2007. It was all because he thought that he did not really “warm up” for the match;” however the action was
well criticized by his team mates as Ronaldinho later thought that Eto’o was not putting the team first.
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