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Samuel Eto'o exposes Pep Guardiola's harsh management style at Barcelona: "He took my number, we were at war!"

15. April 2024
Samuel Eto'o (foto: Getty Images)
Zlatan Ibrahimović is not the only football star to have publicly spoken about conflicts with the famous Spanish coach Pep Guardiola.

Throughout his highly successful career, Guardiola has managed Barcelona, where he gained global fame, then the German giant Bayern Munich, and in recent years has successfully led Manchester City, bringing the club its first European champion title in its history. Although there is generally a positive opinion about his personality, the Spanish coach is not quite the angel as some might think.

Zlatan was the first to openly speak ill of the Spaniard, but he is not alone. Celebrated striker Samuel Eto'o also holds a disastrous opinion of the City coach. Eto'o was part of the famous generation that conquered the world in 2009 by winning a treble, shining that season, even though Pep targeted him right from his arrival at the club.

"As soon as he walked into the office, Guardiola wrote down three names of players to sell - Ronaldinho, Deco, and Eto'o, players who had been at the club for a long time," the Cameroonian once revealed. "He called me a few days later and said they wanted me in Uzbekistan, they'd give me 26 million dollars a year, and it would be good for me to accept." Eto'o told the Spaniard that he had no intention of leaving the club.

"He started a psychological war against me. We were in Houston preparing for the season, and in the locker room, he said that number nine goes to Henry, and I get 14. It was a complete lack of respect. He forced me to play a total of 40 minutes against Chivas and Red Bulls, and unfortunately for him, I scored a total of six goals," Eto'o said. He revealed that Guardiola wanted to teach him how to attack.

"Once, I started to open up space for Messi, who was coming up from behind and scored a goal. But Guardiola was whistling and shaking his head, asking me what I was doing and where I was going. I told him then that a midfielder like him could not teach Eto'o how to attack." Barça won three trophies, and Eto'o was the league's top scorer. "I moved to Inter, and when we played against Barça in the semifinal, the climax followed," says Eto'o, adding:

"We were all in the tunnel, and he didn't even look at me, just passed by. At the end of the match, he came to shake my hand. He waited for the cameras to capture everything and then walked past. Henry was in the tunnel, saw the scene, and started laughing behind him. Pep's desire to win probably made him disrespect players in certain situations," concluded the Cameroonian.

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