Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o: Return of the Fiery Striker

Ozren Podnar reports...

Four and a half months after suffering a terrible knee injury in a Champions League match, Samuel Eto'o reappeared in a competitive game for Barcelona on February 4th, playing the final eight minutes against Osasuna at Pamplona.

But Eto'o is as famous for his fierce temperament and rebellious spirit as for his phenomenal athletic abilities and timing in front of goal.

Once he was given the green light to return to action, Eto'o believed he would immediately become a first choice forward for Frank Rijkaard, regardless of a marvellous spell enjoyed by Javier Saviola, scorer of eleven goals in the past three months, not to mention master Ronaldinho, so nicely settled into a striker's role.

So when a week after the Osasuna game Rijkaard asked him to come on with five minutes to go against Rácing Santander, the Cameroon international refused, perhaps believing that "garbage time" was beneath him.

"Eto'o? He warmed up but did not want to come on," said a somewhat irritated Rijkaard, aware of the balance act he would have to perform to maintain the discipline in Barca, without alienating the team's many stars.

Eto'o is truly a prolific striker, his 52 league goals in the first two seasons being very much responsible for the two championships won by Barcelona.

Last autumn, when the coaches heard that they would have to live without the three-time African Player of the year for something like five months, with the Champions' League second phase qualification still in the air, they were understandably distressed. Still, the team managed to emerge as the Primera División leaders and made it to the last sixteen in Europe without their top goalscorer.

Now that the resilient forward has recovered well from the surgery on his shattered right knee and is available to Rijkaard, it is not clear yet whether it will be beneficial for the team.

Three loans before settling at Mallorca

Eto'o has lived in Spain for 11 years now after coming to Real Madrid from his first team, UCB Douala. He was made to play for Real Madrid reserves in Division Two, and when they were relegated in 1997, he was loaned to CD Leganés for a season.

After returning to Santiago Bernabeu, he was given a taste of first division football on December 5th of 1998 in the match at Espanyol, but it was his only Primera División appearance of the season since he was immediately loaned to Espanyol themselves, where he would play only friendlies.

Next season saw Eto'o return to Bernabéu, followed by yet another loan, this time to Real Mallorca. The operation turned out to be a hit as the 18-year started getting games, and goals, with the ambitious team from the Balearic Islands.

Established as one of the stars of Spanish soccer, Eto'o evolved to the point of scoring two of Mallorca's three goals in the Spanish Cup finals in 2003, as his team thrashed Huelva 3-0. He dedicated the goals and the trophy to his pal and countryman Marc-Vivien Foé, who had died in a Confederations Cup game in France two days before the finals.

At the end of the year he received his first of three consecutive African Player of the year awards, a feat unequalled by any African player.

Tug of war between Barca and Real

In the meantime, Real sold Eto'o's rights to Mallorca under the condition that they had the preferential right of purchase provided they matched any other club's offer. This led to a tug of war between Real and Barcelona, who repeatedly raised their offer for the striker until Madrid finally backed down and gave up on their former youth striker.

Eto'o left Mallorca in the summer of 2004 having played 133 league games and scored 54 goals, the all-time record for the club in the top flight.

At Camp Nou, he quickly paid off the Catalan club's investment by scoring 25 league goals in his first season, including the goal at Levante that sealed Barca's 2005 championship.

If that season he finished second-best scorer of the league, he went one better in 2006 with 27 goals, but his most important goal of that campaign was the equalizer against Arsenal in the Champions' League finals in Paris. The goal paved the way for Barca's 2-1 win and earned him a player of the match award.

He had a terrific start to the current season, scoring at a rate of a goal per game when the ruptured ligament mowed him down. For such an energetic youngster (let us not forget that he will be just 26 next month) the four and a half months must have been like an eternity, so perhaps Rijkaard would be wise to forgive him his occasional primadonna reactions, like the one near the end of the game with Rácing.

Eto'o Quotes

The performance that angered Madrid
On the day Barcelona celebrated their 2004/05 championship, his mates persuaded Eto'o to chant an offensive verse against Real Madrid, "Madrid, cabrón, saluda al campeón" (loosely, "Madrid buggers, salute the champions").
The African complied and was the loudest of the bunch as the cameras focused on his performance, not entirely to the amusement of people of Real.

Excuse me...Santiago Bernabeu?
When Eto'o arrived at Real as a 15-year-old apprentice, there was no-one waiting for him at Barajas Airport: no club directors, no press. The Cameroonian had no clue as to how to get to the club offices in Concha Espina, but he spotted another African and ask him the directions. The other fellow knew Madrid and helped Eto'o save his first obstacle on the way to stardom. Later he said he would have liked to thank his first guide, but he could never get in contact with him.

Who me? You must be joking!
On being asked to come on as a substitute for the last few minutes against Rácing Santander by manager Frank Rijkaard, whose criticism of the player's refusal to do so was seconded by Ronaldinho.
"It really pissed me off that a team-mate should poke his nose in and say I need to think more about the team - especially when it's him who needs to think more about the group! We have the guy considered the best in the world but Samuel Eto'o is also the best in the world. I know he's slagging me off but he should have the balls to say things to my face instead of stabbing me in the back."

Fact file

Samuel Eto'o
Birthdate: March 10th, 1981
Birthplace: Nkon (CMR)
Height/weight: 179 cm, 75 kg
Club: Barcelona
Position: forward
Shirt number: 9
Club career (appearances-goals)
1997/98 Leganés 28 3
1998/99 Real Madrid 1 0
Espanyol 0 0
1999/00 Real Madrid 2 0
Mallorca 13 6
2000/01 Mallorca 28 11
2001/02 Mallorca 30 6
2002/03 Mallorca 30 14
2003/04 Mallorca 32 17
2004/05 Barcelona 37 25
2005/06 Barcelona 34 27
2006/07 Barcelona 5 4
International career
1997-07 Cameroon 67 24
Honours
Two Spanish Championships (2005, 2006)
Spanish Cup (2003)
Two Spanish Supercups (2005, 2006)
Champions' League (2006)
Two African Championships
Confederations' Cup runner-up

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