Legendary African striker Samuel Eto'o, who is still the only player in football history to have won back-to-back major trebles, has named the team he considers as the best in the world.
The former Cameroon captain is widely regarded as arguably the greatest African forward of all time, having established himself as one of the deadliest strikers in world football during his five-year spell at Barcelona between 2004 and 2009.
There, Eto'o became a household name, although it was during his time at Mallorca that he was able to hone his craft before linking up with Ronaldinho at the Catalan giants.
Speaking exclusively to Soccer Laduma about his five years at Mallorca, one of which was spent on loan from Real Madrid, the 40-year-old said he remembers his stint at Los Piratas as one of the most important periods of his career.
"Mallorca is all my life. For me, Mallorca is the best team in the world!" he said.
"Yeah, Mallorca gave me my chance, the opportunity, the time and chance to play football. Other than my country, Mallorca gave me the freedom.
"Sometimes in football, players do not have time and when you are young, it's so difficult.
"Mallorca gave me time to explore myself, time to play football, and I will never forget this. It's very rare to see a club give this kind of time to play."
Eto'o scored 67 goals in 155 matches for Mallorca before Barcelona moved for him, beating Arsenal, Los Blancos and a few other clubs to his signature.
"I had (offers) at the time from Arsenal, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, but, for me, the most important thing in that time was that my period at Mallorca was finished," he continued.
"I needed to play in a really big team, like a Manchester United or go back to Real Madrid, but I wanted to play. I don't want to be on the bench, I don't want to go on loan."
