Highlights: Cameroonian goalkeeper André Onana is in the lineage of the great Cameroonian goalkeepers. The Indomitable won the U19 Champions League, but never had the opportunity to play in the first team. His rise was brutally halted by a positive doping control. He was suspended for one year by FIFA. His appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will allow him to reduce the "sentence" to nine months. The 27-year-old goalkeeper has now turned his back on the Cameroonian selection.

Inter Milan, who will face Manchester City for the final of the Champions League this Saturday, June 10, is counting on its Cameroonian goalkeeper, André Onana to defy the odds. A challenge to the...

Champions League: André Onana, the indomitable who challenges Manchester City

André Onana, the Cameroonian goalkeeper of Inter Milan. June 08, 2023. REUTERS - ALBERTO LINGRIA

Text by: Ndiasse Sambe Follow

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Inter? They have a lot of qualities, especially Onana. He's special, he reads where the space is, he airs the midfield. (...) Both of our teams have good goalkeepers, but he is exceptional with his feet." The eulogy is signed Pep Guardiola a few days before the final of the Champions League between his Manchester City and Inter Milan of André Onana. The Spanish technician of the English club is not in gratuitous flattery, nor in a psychological tactic to destabilize his future opponent. Because, like him, many think that, if Inter plays its first C1 final since 2010, it owes it largely to its last Cameroonian rampart, author of eight clean-sheets (matches without conceding goals) in the competition.

At 13 years old at Barça

André Onana, the goalkeeper who "could wear the number 10 on his back", according to former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, is in the lineage of the great Cameroonian goalkeepers. Sort of heirs of Thomas Nkono, Joseph Antoine Bell, Jacques Songo'o or Carlos Kameni.

It was on the makeshift grounds of his native village of Nkol Ngok, in central Cameroon, that André Onana was spotted. The kid joined Fundesport, an academy created by Samuel Eto'o in Douala, before flying at 13 to Barça, where his godfather played at the time. With the Blaugranas, the Indomitable won the U19 Champions League, but never had the opportunity to play in the first team.

It is in the Netherlands, at Ajax Amsterdam, that "Nana" will reveal himself in five full seasons, winning three league titles in Holland. His rise was brutally halted by a positive doping control. In his defence, he claims he made a mistake by taking a medication intended for his wife. He was suspended for one year by FIFA. His appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will allow him to reduce the "sentence" to nine months. He returned, but settled on the bench of Ajax. This will not push back Inter Milan, who had been following him for years and who offered him a five-year contract on July 1, 2022.

"Ready to die"

At Inter, forced to alternate in goal with Samir Handanovic at the beginning of the season, Onana quickly established himself as number 1, to the point of being cited among the best goalkeepers in the world at the moment. A status that his national team does not enjoy. Once a pillar of the Cameroonian selection, the 27-year-old goalkeeper has now turned his back on the Indomitables by announcing his international retirement after his dismissal in the middle of the World Cup in Qatar. An exclusion, consequence of its tempestuous character, some think.

It is this strong character that allows him to challenge the favorite of the competition, Manchester City, on Saturday. "We will go to Istanbul to win. On Saturday, they will try to prove that they are stronger than us. But we will be here, ready to die," said admirer Julio Cesar, former Brazilian goalkeeper of Inter.

Champions League: André Onana, the indomitable who challenges Manchester City

Champions League: André Onana, the indomitable who challenges Manchester City

At 13 years old at Barça

"Ready to die"

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