Diego Milito, Maicon, and Wesley Sneijder are all capable of scoring goals but the only one who has scored in a Champions League final out of that group is Samuel Eto’o.
Eto’o’s made Arsenal blue in the 2006 final and then again repeated the feat three years later against Man Utd. When Eto’o left for Inter, switched for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, many saw it as a epitaph of a player past his prime, hamstrung with injuries and ego problems. But Mourinho brought him for his ability to deliver big. In that battle he has had the last laugh over Ibrahimovic and Pep Guardiola. The Swede has been overshadowed by the contributions of Pedro and Bojan, who previously came off the bench.
Eto’o’s Serie goalscoring output has been ordinary, 12 in 32 appearances well off his Barca pace but there have been some very important goals against Roma, Fiorentina, and Juventus that kept Inter in the Serie challenge against their rivals. And so far he has lived up his European reputation bringing Chelsea down in the second leg to progress Inter into the Champions League quarterfinals.
He will be in the illustrious company of Alfredo Di Stefano if he scores in today’s CL finals and the first one in its modern version, to score in three separate finals.
Eto’o’s biggest strength is that he lies under the radar, the man left unmarked, lurking in the corners, or suddenly breaking free. Bayern will focus on Milito, Maicon, or Sneijder but they would be naive to overlook this man’s record.