Samuel Eto'o, the legendary Cameroonian striker who spent the best years of his career with La Liga's Barcelona and Serie A's Inter Milan announced his retirement from football on Instagram on Friday.

"The end. Towards a new challenge. Thank you all, big love," posted the 38-year-old veteran.

As the greatest African player in many people's eyes, Eto'o saw his legend begin in 2004 with Barcelona. In his first season at Camp Nou, he scored 25 goals to help the club win the La Liga championship. In the following season, Eto'o won the Golden Boot with 26 goals while scoring the valuable game-tying goal in the UEFA Champions League Final against Liverpool before Barcelona won the final victory.

Eto'o reached the first summit of his career in the 2008-09 season. He scored 30 goals in La Liga and six in the Champions League, including the ice-breaker in the final against Manchester United. By the end of that season, he won the treble with Barcelona.

In summer 2009, Eto'o was sent to Inter Milan as part of Barcelona's deal to acquire Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In the following season, he proved what a big mistake Barcelona have made by helping his new team bring the three trophies of Serie A, Coppa Italia and again, Champions League to the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium. Eto'o himself became the only player in football history to win the treble back-to-back with two different clubs.

Eto'o's career with Cameroon's national team was also a great success. Having made his national team debut at the age of 15, he played 118 games for Cameroon and scored 56 goals, winning two African Cup of Nations titles (2000 and 2002) and the football gold medal of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He was also four-time African Player of the Year (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010).