Tuesday, February 13, 2007

And Another Thing...

In a bout of finger-pointing that would make Bill O'Reilly proud, Samuel Eto'o came out swinging this morning. He took shots at Frank Rijkaard, Ronaldinho, and an ex-Barcelona executive. The Cameroon international didn't appreciate Rijkaard telling the press that Eto'o "didn't want to" come into the game as a substitute. "It's him [Rijkaard] who came out and said that to the press, he's the one that wants to settle internal matters through the press."

Eto'o didn't want to let Ronaldinho's comments go unanswered either. The Brazilian had suggested that last year's top-scorer had been inconsiderate of his teammates. Eto'o shot back today, saying that "if a teammate says that you must think of the team, it's up to him to think of the team. Personally I always think first about the group and then money."

When it came to Barca's former vice president, Sandro Rosell, Eto'o really let it fly. At the moment, there seems to be a lot of behind the scenes jostling going on in the Catalan capital. Eto'o is of the opinion that all of this "refusing to go in" business is an attempt by some (Rosell) to fuel bad press about the club and it's president, Joan Laporta. Eto'o had this to say about Rosell:
I'm in the middle of a war between two people [Laporta and Rosell] and I'm the one who is taking all the punishment. If anybody has balls, they should tell it to my face. When he [Rosell] was my boss, he never once said hello to me. And now he goes around behind my back to talk about me. That's a sign of a bad person.
Regardless of who did what to whom, this doesn't bode well for the Spanish and European champions. I wouldn't expect to see Eto'o take part in either of the two huge matches Barca have coming up: away to Valencia and home to Liverpool. Not the best time of year to have your club commit suicide.

Angry Eto'o hits out at Rijkaard [BBC]
Eto'o lashes out against Rijkaard, Rosell, and Ronaldinho (in Spanish) [Marca]

-ac

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