Due to his not starting in Cameroon’s decisive match against Gambia – the day before yesterday, Tuesday – Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana entered into a “verbal quarrel” with the President of the Cameroonian Federation and the country’s legend, Samuel Eto’o.
Onana entered into a clash and violent verbal quarrel with the former Barcelona striker after he was replaced by goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa (Nimes, France) before the match against Gambia in the third and final round of the group stage of the 2023 African Cup of Nations.
Eto’o succeeded in containing the situation, then the team’s players intervened to calm their goalkeeper.
Andre Onana involved in ‘verbal altercation’ with Samuel Eto’o after being dropped by Cameroon
Reports claimed that Onana was furious about being axed from the starting line-up and was at the centre of a bust-up before the game with Eto’o, who is the president of Cameroon’s… pic.twitter.com/CQ0mspZKoL
— Man United Fan Club (@manufcnow) January 23, 2024
After that, the goalkeeper calmed down and joined the bench, where he witnessed his team’s victory, celebrating on the field with his team members.
According to what was reported by the French network “RMC”, Onana seemed very angry at the coach’s decision to exclude him from the starting lineup to face Gambia and asked Eto’o to intervene, but he refused.
🚨🇨🇲 𝐍𝐄𝐖: Andre Onana was upset at not being a starter, had an altercation with the president of the Cameroonian Federation Samuel Eto’o on Tuesday morning a few hours before the match. (Sport News Africa) #MUFC pic.twitter.com/ju8yi81xw3
— UtdTruthful (@Utdtruthful) January 24, 2024
A source told Sport News Africa, “Coach Song decided to replace Onana with Ondoa after a meeting with the team’s players who did not like Onana’s performance against Senegal.”
He continued, “He knew that he would not play, and that is why he entered into a verbal argument with Eto’o, but the latter did not respond to him. Onana lost his temper on his own before calming down and remaining in the group to accept his fate.”
This is not the first quarrel between Eto’o and Onana, as a quarrel had previously occurred between the two during the 2022 Qatar World Cup finals, which led to the latter’s exclusion from the World Cup, and Onana announced his retirement from international football before retracting his decision.
The Cameroon national team achieved an exciting victory over the Gambia national team with a score of (3-2) in the third group matches of the African Cup of Nations.
🚨🚨🚨🚨 Urgent
• Onana got into an argument with Eto’o today when he learned that he would not play in the starting lineup.
• Onana did not learn the news until this morning, and he lost his temper, then calmed down and accepted the matter.
( Sports Africa ) pic.twitter.com/l5JFde1cY2
– Ali amer (@Ali7amer) January 23, 2024
Onana started against Senegal in the second match, but conceded 3 goals, which put him under criticism.
While he missed the first match against Guinea, which ended (1-1), due to his late arrival in the Cameroon camp.
The “Untamed Lions” will face the Nigeria Eagles in the quarter-finals of the continental championship, and the choice of the coach will be of interest after the substitute goalkeeper’s brilliance against Gambia and his save of several dangerous chances, which puts Onana’s place in danger.
Fabrizio Romano
• The relationship between Andre Onana and Cameroonian Federation President Samuel Eto’o is still broken since the 2022 World Cup 🇨🇲❌
• Cameroon’s path in the African Cup of Nations will be crucial to understanding more about this situation 🇨🇲🧐 pic.twitter.com/WaFKQ9xCL8
— 𝑆𝐴L𝑊𝐴𝑁 (@Salwan_The_king) January 21, 2024
