Samuel Eto'o recalls his turbulent times at Barcelona following Pep Guardiola's appointment in 2008. Despite the Treble-winning campaign, the Cameroonian found it difficult to get on with the new coach which was a mutual feeling. Eventually, Eto'o was forced to leave for Inter mostly because of the tensed relationships with Pep.
Eto'o explains his feelings in an interview with Marca: "I love him as a coach, but not as a person. I learned to play football with him. He interprets things better than anyone. He's the best, but of course he loses matches."
At Inter, Eto'o used to work with Jose Mourinho who helped the Cameroonian to win his second consecutive Treble. The former Barca man recalls another incident with the Portuguese specialist:
"He left me a month on the bench for a month and made me warm up in injury time," Eto'o recounted."In his head, he was pricking me to make me his own player."
Finally, Eto'o names the best ever coach he ever worked with: "If I had to stay with one coach it would have been Luis Aragones. He changed my life. We spoke in his office at Mallorca and it totally changed my life as a player."
Eto'o elaborates: "He called me and said 'Samuel, you've done everything with Mallorca but now it's time to go to a big club, where your level really is.' He saw things in a way that I didn't. He was unique, knew to play with personality. If I become a coach it would be a great honour to resemble him."
Eto'o left Mallorca to join Barcelona for €27m in the summer of 2004. He scored 130 goals in 199 games as a Blaugrana.
