When I was really young,
we [Cameroon] were playing against Nigeria.
All the city was crazy.
1pm... The stadium was already like
three, four hours before the game... full.
We are coming from a poor country.
So, that time what we had was football.
The thing the whole country had was football.
The country is poor but the people are rich inside.
The dream I had was just to play at that stadium.
Mfandena Le Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo.
Not playing for Ajax, not playing for Barcelona.
just playing there is already "Wow"... It's the unthinkable, no?
I remember my brother was a goalie.
So, I was watching his game and he decided to switch
and he went to play centre back.
and I was like "O.K."
That time, they were saying,
"The goalie is always the worst player."
because nobody wanted to be in the goal
and actually I was very happy because
I was playing with mature players, my brothers
and, yeah, I was in goal... and I started to play
and then I went to some clubs
and I played a few games in goal and I started to have fun.
My dad, he used to play back in the day, you know?
When my mum is talking about him,
you'd think he is Lionel Messi, you know?
I can see he was a good player but he's not really good
because he was putting a lot of emotion in.
He didn't want me to play football.
No, he didn't want me to play
He was like, "Eh, my friend, you have to go to school.
"School is more safe. Football is too much risk."
"You can get injured and you don't know what is going to happen later."
So, my parents were both more focussed on school.
Actually, I followed football because my brother,
the one who was a goalkeeper, he went to play centre back
and then he had an offer from Jakarta, in Indonesia
and he went to play there.
So, I'm like "Oh, if he's happy there, you can be happy somewhere else."
Then I started to play and follow my dream.
I started to play and I was actually making some good saves.
Another coach from another club
came to my parents and said,
"I think André has good skills."
Because I was also skinny, he said: "He's going to be tall."
"So with him, we can train and we see."
That's how I joined that club, that club was playing small tournaments.
It was the first year of Samuel Eto'o [Academy]
so they were trying to take the best players of my city
and I was just playing there and I became the best goalie at the tournament
and that's how I went to the Samuel Eto'o Academy.
It was luck also, because in football you need luck.
I was in the right place at the right moment.
The coach from Eto'o Academy came to talk with my dad, but I was at school
so I didn't know anything.
I remember when I came back, I entered my home,
my mum said, "I have good news for you."
I said, "News? I'm hungry I just want to eat first."
When I was eating, she told me
"When I tell you this news, you will stop eating."
When she told me, "You will go to the Eto'o academy", I said, "How come?"
She said, "We spoke with the coach."
"You don't even know the coach... He was not even there."
She said, "Yeah he came and he was here." I said, "Impossible."
But she gave me the name and showed me the number and the picture
and I was like O.K., I started to think that he really came.
They really came to my place.
Going there was a good step, a huge step for me.
I think I played four years there. I became captain.
I won a lot of titles... Of course, when you are young
you think you're a big player.
And yeah, then I went to Barcelona.
I went to Spain 12 times... before I went to stay.
I went 12 times, we had some tournaments.
I think we went for a tournament in Lanzarote.
I had a great tournament
and we were champions.
At that time Barcelona were looking for a young goalie
and Ricard Segarra contacted [my coach] Diallo and asked for me.
The funny thing is, I didn't know I was going to Barcelona.
After training I went home and I got a phone call from my brother.
They knew I was going to Barcelona
because Barcelona already made a deal with the foundation.
The coach told my family
but he told them, "Don't tell him."
I got a call from my brother
and behind I heard, "Don't tell him! Don't tell him! Don't tell him!"
And I'm like, "Don't tell him what?"
He said, "No no, I won't tell him."
But me and my brother we friends, you know? Good friends.
I don't know what happened. Maybe he went out...
He said, "Hey bro, you are going to Barcelona." I said, "No way."
He said, "Yeah yeah yeah."
"They already fixed everything with the family."
I said, "No, it's impossible".
When the coach came, I went to the coach, "What is going on here?"
He told me, "Andre, listen."
"Pack all your bags, all your luggage."
I'm like, "Coach..."
"Come on, why do I have to go with my bags?"
He said, "Eh! Andre, take your luggage."
And this is how I know I'm going to Barcelona.
When we arrive in Spain, I go direct to Barcelona
and my teammates went to the hotel.
And I had to play against them.
Against them but with Barcelona.
It was fast, really fast... Amazing.
You are happy to go, to sign for Barcelona
but in the end you don't know where you go.
New country, new city, new people, new culture.
You don't speak the language... You don't know anything.
So, I was excited, "Yeah I'm going to Barcelona!"
But you don't know what is there.
You don't know what you're going to see.
When I arrived there, I was living in La Masia.
It was great, great times... One of my best times.
They told me, "Andre you have quality to continue."
"You might have an opportunity."
But at the same time it was already difficult, because they bought Bravo.
They bought Ter Stegen and Ter Stegen was 22 at that time.
So, for me, it was impossible to continue there
and that's why I decided to look for something new, somewhere else
and yeah, I think Ajax was the best place for me to come.
The club give a lot of opportunties to young players.
So that's why I came here to the cold.
Peter [Bosz] came... I was third goalie.
And he told me, "You are too young to play."
I told him, "No, give me the chance."
And he told me to leave the club.
I think Bravo left and Barcelona had to buy a keeper
and they bought [Jasper] Cillessen.
So, I was the number three here. I became the number two
but Ajax bought Tim Krul... So, I became the third again.
He was injured. He had a small issue in the leg.
And he said to the coach, "Give me one month."
One month is four games.
I was the number three but I was training good,
I had a bit of attitude. A bit of personality,
and then the coach called me, "Andre..."
"Tomorrow, I play with you."
"You're going to play three games, but you are my number one."
The second game, at the beginning of the game
[Davinson] Sanchez, now he's in Tottenham,
he made a mistake.
and the referee says, "Penalty!"
I went to him, "My friend!"
We were young. He was my age
We were playing together in the second team
and he started earlier in the first team, then I came.
I went to him, "Sanchez, why did you do this?
"You know now if they score, they are going to shoot me!"
And I start to hit him like, "Why? why?"
During the game, during the game!
We were, I was so young at that time.
I don't know why but I decided to go to the right
and I saved the penalty, wow... And then everything became easy.
I started to have more confidence, you know?
And I start to play football and we start to win win win
and I became the number one for years.
We play this tournament at home
in front of our family, friends, all the country.
All the cities.
When I play, I have the opportunity to represent this country
in such a big competition at home.
It's just a gift from God.
This doesn't happen every day.
I know a lot of players, with a lot of titles...
but they didn't play such a big competition at home.
Doesn't matter if you win or if you lose, it's special
to play something like this at home.
For me, I was living 20 minutes from that stadium.
All my family, all my friends are going to be there.
You can imagine how many people I know who are going to be in the stadium.
So, you know, I'm used to playing in big stadiums here [in Europe]
but you don't know so many people.
but there, every time I do this... I might recognize somebody.
I turn to the left, I turn to the right, I will see someone that I know.
It's a nice feeling. it's great. It's a lot of responsibility.
All the country is going to be watching that game.
There's a lot pressure on [us]. They want us to win, of course
we also want to win. We trained for it and we are ready.
For everything.