Part 3: Player Profile – Samuel Eto’o
He again suffered the same injury as the team went on against Inter Milan, Eto’o was sidelined. Later, while he was not featuring for the team, he managed to have the Spanish nationality as he was now a European Union player.
On December 4th he came back on the field to help the team score more goals. Right after his return, Barcelona found back their form as they won the match 2-1 against Deportivo.
Samuel Eto’o then recorded his first hat-trick for the Spanish La Liga and it was during the match against Levante. He finished with only 18 appearances but still managed to score 16 goals throughout the league and it was
the fastest hat-trick in the club’s history. He found the net three times in only 23 minutes and that came off against the Spanish side Almeria. On November 2008, Barcelona thrashed the Spanish team Real Valladolid with a 6-0 win over them and it was Eto’o
who scored 4 goals in the first half.
With Barcelona, Samuel Eto’o won 6 trophies in one season as the former Barcelona player Josep “Pep” Guardiola took charge of the team. Eto’o scored his 111th goal for the team and it was the season
where Barcelona managed to win all the titles that came in their way. Each competition that they stepped in, they actually came out winning it. The biggest stage of them all, the UEFA Champions League was also won by Barcelona and it was Samuel Eto’o who scored
the first goal for the team while Lionel Messi’s header sealed the deal for the English Red Devils.
After the Inter Milan player Maxwell completed his move to the Spanish team Barcelona, the Spanish club’s president stated that the Inter Milan sensation Zlatan Ibrahimovic is going to make way to the Spanish club. A swap
deal was prepared for Samuel Eto’o and 46 million Euros along with Samuel Eto’o were given to the Italian side while the Spanish team bought the Swedish striker and the golden boot award winner of the Italian League, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The deal was struck
and both the strikers swapped places.
In Supercoppa Italiana, Eto’o scored his first goal for the Italian side and later during the season, it was Eto’o who won Inter Milan a penalty and scored from it. Later, he kept on scoring for the Italian team and it was
him all over the place as the “extraordinary” striker showed his worth to the world.
He managed to play the third Champions League final of his career on the 22nd of May, 2010. He featured as a first team player for Inter Milan and under Jose Mourinho they had to face the German side,
Bayern Munich. He became the only player to win a treble for two consecutive seasons and it was his goals that helped the Italian team win the Italian Super Cup as Inter Milan won 3-1 against Roma.
As he was a success on club level, he also showed his true worth for his country, Cameroon. He earned his first appearance for his country while he was only 15 years old. It was against Costa Rica and his team lost the match
5-0. During the FIFA World Cup 1998, he became the youngest participant in a FIFA World Cup as he appeared in the 3-0 group stage loss against the European giants, Italy. He scored his first FIFA World Cup goal in the FIFA World Cup 2002. The goal came off
against Saudi Arabia and it was the only win that his team secured in that competition.
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