An Algerian Youtuber named, Said Mamouni, with more than 66,000 subscribers is claiming football legend, Samuel Eto’o assaulted him and broke his camera in Qatar.
Spanish press reported that Mamouni is claiming Eto’o lost his temper after he asked him about referee Bakary Papa Gassama.
He also asked Eto’o if he had bribed the referee before Cameroon’s playoff victory over Algeria in March, 2022, granting his team a place in the World Cup
The Gambian referee officiated the World Cup play-off second-leg between Algeria and Cameroon in Algiers earlier this year.
A viral video filmed by La Opinion shows the former Barcelona, Inter Milan, and Chelsea striker leaving Stadium 974 in Doha, after watching Brazil’s 4-1 victory against South Korea in their round-of-16 match on Monday night, 5 December.
At first, Eto’o was seen posing for photos with fans as he made his way out of the venue before a man with a video camera approaches him and they began to exchange words.
Before the video cuts to a few seconds later, Eto’o was seen returning to the scene to confront the man.
At this point, onlookers rushed in to calm the situation, but Eto’o refused to be held back as he continues to try and confront him.
While four men were holding Eto’o back, he gave his phone to a man, before breaking out
to knee the man in the face, knocking him to the ground.
The man who was reportedly assaulted by the football legend, said on his YouTube channel: “I’m at the police station to file a complaint against Eto’o, he hit me and someone else with him pushed me and destroyed my camera.”
The officiating referee Papa Gassama broke his silence after suffering a huge backlash to claim he was unfazed by the Algerian criticism.
He said: “If they win you are the good referee and if they lose they label you as the bad referee.”
Despite the controversy, Papa Gassama was one of the eight referees from Africa selected for the World Cup in Qatar.