• Premier League

Eto'o anger at Mourinho jibe

Samuel Eto'o has reacted angrily to Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho dismissing him as a striker and questioning his age.

The 32-year-old spoke to former Cameroon coach Claude Le Roy after the row over Mourinho's Canal+ comments flared and made it clear he had not been placated.

"I had him on the phone just before I came on screen, and he's very annoyed," Le Roy, who has coached Cameroon twice during a long coaching career in Africa, told the Canal+ show Talents d'Afrique.

"Actually, Mourinho went to see him before he saw the pictures and told him to not believe everything that was going to be said. And that he had said nothing about him. But I can tell you that Samuel didn't like it."

Mourinho was filmed in conversation saying that his team lack a striker, despite having Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba at his disposal. He was also heard to say of the Cameroon striker: "He is 32 years old, maybe 35, who knows?"

The manager has been on the back foot ever since, trying to reassure Eto'o that his comments were only meant jokingly and made in a private conversation.

But Mourinho's attempt to shift the blame on to Canal+, insisting the broadcaster should be ashamed of airing footage of a private conversation on its website, has also brought an angry response.

"These are not stolen images," a spokeman for the French TV station said. "The camera wasn't 10 metres away, it's not on zoom.

"You could see the red light and he was clearly aware he was being filmed, especially as he's someone who comes across cameras so often and who is used to the media.

"Mourinho perhaps did not want to fully assume what he had said. He could have come and seen the journalist and asked us not to use the images. He did not make any special request."

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