Patrice Evra, the former Manchester United defender, harbors a friendly grudge against Samuel Eto’o due to a difficult situation orchestrated by the President of the Cameroonian Football Federation.
The incident dates back to May 2009. Eto’o, then playing for FC Barcelona, was set to face off against Patrice Evra and Manchester United in the Champions League final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
On that day, Pep Guardiola, the Barcelona coach at the time, decided to deploy the Cameroonian striker on the right flank of the Catalan attack rather than in the center.
As a result, Samuel Eto’o found himself up against Patrice Evra and made life as difficult as possible for the French international during the match, which ended in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory.
Eto’o even scored the opening goal of the match and subsequently caused significant problems for Evra with his highly effective defensive positioning.
This situation left a lasting impression on Patrice Evra, who still speaks about it with a certain nostalgia 15 years later. When asked who is better between Eto’o and Villa, the Frenchman responds and explains, “I’ll say Eto’o is better (than Villa) because I hate him, I mean, I love him, he’s my brother, but the match he played in the final in Rome (Champions League 2008-2009)!
You remember, I started with Messi on my side and Guardiola decided to change and put Eto’o. And Eto’o sometimes played right-back, and he frustrated me in my game. I told him, ‘you know you have to attack, it’s the final and everything,’ so I hate Eto’o because of that match. And I told him, he knows I love him, but because of that match, I was frustrated,” recounted the former captain of the French national team.
A very fair-play player, Patrice Evra has always acknowledged Barcelona’s superiority over them at that time and revealed that it was one of the most challenging matches he had ever played.
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