One of the attractions of a World Cup is that spectators around the stadium occasionally bump into footballing celebrities, such as Samuel Eto’o. As the former FC Barcelona striker left the 974 Stadium on Monday night after the Brazil-South Korea game, he was still laughing, signing autographs and snapping photos as he walked, which seemed like a normal scene in the context of major tournaments – until a man with a film camera spotted him addressed.
Video recordings of the portal La Opinion, also rather coincidentally with a camera on site, then show a scene that could have far-reaching consequences. At first the man – an Algerian YouTuber – seems to be asking Eto’o a question from the side, which he progressively ignores. A few seconds later, however, the Cameroonian returns, this time visibly tense, and attacks the Youtuber. Several bystanders, possibly also from Eto’o’s entourage, try to hold him back, one snatches his camera from the Algerian.
Eto’o seems to calm down for a few moments, but then he sees the Youtuber trying to pick up the camera from the ground, runs towards him and knees him in the face. The young man can then pull himself together and leave the scene with his camera in hand while Eto’o is kept in check in the background. Then the video ends.
The Algerian Youtuber, who calls himself Sadouni SM, showed his injuries and the broken screen of his camera in a video published later and announced that he wanted to press charges. It is still unclear what question he asked Eto’o that made him freak out: The Algerian portal DZ foot reported that he had asked the Cameroonian about the referee Bakary Gassama: He had come into focus in the final qualifier before the World Cup when Cameroon scored a goal against Algeria shortly before the end and thanks to the 2-1 went to the World Cup. The referee’s dubious performance was a big issue in Algeria at the time, who saw themselves cheated out of Qatar.
In any case, Eto’o, who was already known for his hotheadedness during his career – he once headbutted both a reporter as well as an opponent – is not only in focus as a private person. He is not only the most respected footballer in his country, but now also one of the most important officials in African football: As president of the Cameroonian association and Fifa ambassador, he is likely to face trouble, as Cameroonian news portals reported.
It is also still unclear whether the Qatari police will deal with the case – and if so, how strictly. Before the tournament, attempted physical harm in the vicinity of the stadium was on the list of offenses against which the local police wanted to take the toughest action.