allowed him to deliver Inter's crucial pre-match
team talk ahead of the 2010 Champions League
final.
The Cameroon great spent two years at San Siro
after leaving Barcelona in 2009 and claimed an
historic treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and
Champions League triumphs in his first season at
the club.
Inter beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the final at
Santiago Bernabeu - their first in the tournament
since 1972 - thanks to two goals from Diego Milito.
Eto'o, however, says Mourinho's decision to have
him address the team before they went out onto
the pitch proved to be an inspirational moment.
"Mourinho did something that few others would,"
he told Sky Italia. "He gave his team talk ahead of
the game, then said: 'Now Samuel will tell us how
we're going to win'. I have to thank him for that.
"In the final, you win if you step onto the field to
win and not to go out and play. Each of us thought
of how much we suffered to reach that point,
winning against Chelsea and Barcelona, to get to a
final Inter hadn't been in for 40 years.
"I said that I had played many finals but that this
was the most special. We had to do something for
the people, for the Inter population who deserved it.
"I said: 'Either we win the Champions League, or
we die trying. We've got to die on that pitch to
bring home the cup or we'll die because we won't
return to Milan with the cup'. Fortunately, it all
went well.
"I turned around after my speech and Julio Cesar
was crying."
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