Etoo played in 2008/09 when Barca scored 105 league goals. So he didn't miss the 'stat padding days'.
The numbers of goals going up dramatically since 10 years ago is due to Barca and Real having much better attacking players. Two of the greatest goal scorers ever that are repeating their goal scoring superiority in Europe not just la Liga.
Lol.
Partly because of that, but partly because that rich got richer.
About Etoo playing in 2009, for me, Etoo's prime Seasons were 2005 and 2006, our first 2 titles with Ronnie-Etoo-Rijkaard-Laporta.
About how La liga became a 2-horse race, for example:
1996:
1. Atletico
2. Valencia
3. BARCA
..
6. Real Madrid, lol
1997:
1. Real
2. Barca
1998:
1. Barca
..
4. Real (Champions of Europe, lol)
1999:
1. Barca
2. Real (Galacticos)
2000:
1. Deportivo
2. Barca
3. Valencia
4. Zaragoza
5. Real (Galacticos, winners of a CL that year again)
2001:
1. Real
2. Deportivo
3. Mallorca
4. Barca
2002:
1. Valencia
2. Deportivo
3. Real (Galacticos, winners of CL again, lol)
4. Barca
2003:
1. Real
...
6. Barca
2004:
1. Valencia
2. Barca
3. Deportivo
4. Real
**************
**************
2005:
1. Barca
2. Real
2006:
1. Barca
2. Real
2007:
1. Real
2. Barca
2008:
1. Real
2. Villareal
3. Barca
2009:
1. Barca
2. Real
2010:
1. Barca
2. Real
2011:
1. Barca
2. Real
2012:
1. Real
2. Barca
2013:
1. Barca
2. Real
2014:
1. Atletico
2. Barca
3. Real
2015:
1. Barca (??)
2. Real (??)
So, in seasons 1996-2004 (9 Seasons), Barca and Real were together on spots 1 and 2=only 2 times in 9 Seasons
In Seasons 2005-2015 (11 Seasons), Barca and Real were together on spots 1 and 2=9 times, lol
Now let's check league positions of Barca and Real in 1996-2004 and from 2005-2015:
Barca (1996-2004): 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 2
Real (1996-2004): 6, 1, 4, 2, 5, 1, 3, 1, 4
Barca (2005-2015): 1, 1, 2, 3, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1
Real (2005-2015): 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2
Barca and Real together:
-- Seasons 1996-2004:
1st place: 5 times
2nd place: 4 times
3rd place: 2 times
4th place: 4 times
5th place: 1 times
6th place: 2 times
Barca and Real together, Seasons 2005-2015:
1st place: 10, lol
2nd place: 10, lol
3rd place: 2, lol
4th place: - lol
5th place: - lol
6th place: - lol
So, we can call Sherlock if some people want, but it is clear from the plane that Barca and Real BOTH improved a loooooooooooooooooot in the last 10 years.
Now, these improvement started before Messi and Ronaldo, so you can't sell that argument.
Sponsor's deals and money around Barca and Real increased a lot in the last 10 years, and both Barca and Real became too strong for La liga opponents.
For example, in 90's and in early 2000's, we could ask:
1. were Barca and Real place 4th, 5th and 6th=because they had really bad teams?
2. or they were placed 4th, 5th and 6th, not because they were poor, but because they weren't as rich as today, and other teams were equally as rich back then and Valencia, Deportivo and other could have competed with us?
For example, Real Madrid who won 3 CL titles in 1998-2000 and 2002, finished:
1998: 4th
1999: 2nd
2000: 5th
2001: 1st
2002: 3rd
-- so, Galacticos, who were good enough to win 3 CLs in 5 years (and not in Chelsea's way, lol. But more like in Barca's way, when you are the best in Europe by far), managed to end only twice in top2 positions in those 5 years.
LOLOLO...
So, again, it is not ONLY because of Messi and Ronaldo, but because of other things also.
Also, I don't get why people are offended when I say that La liga's goals are inflated.
It sounds as if I have offended someone.
I am looking at it this way:
= when people say that Ney is scoring more than Ronaldinho and Etoo, I found that rude and disrespectful towards those 2 legends
-- and no, Ney is not on their level yet, even though he has better stats. Again, because of inflated league.
If it is so easy to 'stat pad' at Barca and Real why have other players not done it?
Why did Ibra, Villa, Sanchez, Etoo all have better goal scoring seasons at other clubs?
When did this supposed stat padding era begin?
Lol, you don't need a Sherlock to guess that inflated goals stats probably started to rise year by year since 2005, when La liga started to be a 2-horse race, and after that, each year Barca and Real are richer and richer, they are better than the opponents, and stats are rising.
Someone will ask: why isn't that extra rich Barca a champion of Europe?
= because the same thing is happening in Germany and England
-- so, in the past, Leagues were more even
-- now we have a few of superclubs who are too good for their leagues and they are statpadding in league matches
Let's see a sum of Barca's+Real's goals from 2003-04 (Ronaldinho's+Rijkaard's first year) till today:
1999-00: 70+58=128 (Galacticos won a CL)
2000-01: 80+81=161
2001-02: 65+69=134 (Galacticos won a CL)
2002-03: 63+86=149
2003-04: 63+72=135, (Messi+Ronaldo 0+0=0 Goals)
2004-05: 73+71=144, (Messi+Ronaldo 1+0=1)
2005-06: 80+70=150, (Messi+Ronaldo 6+0=6)
2006-07: 78+66=144, (Messi+Ronaldo 14+0=14)
2007-08: 76+84=160, (Messi+Ronaldo 10+0=10)
2008-09: 105+83=188, (Messi+Ronaldo 23+0=23)
2009-10: 98+102=200, (Messi+Ronaldo 34+26=60)
2010-11: 95+102=197, (Messi+Ronaldo 31+40=71)
2011-12: 114+121=235, (Messi+Ronaldo 50+46=96)
2012-13: 115+103=218, (Messi+Ronaldo 46+34=80)
2013-14: 100+104=204, (Messi+Ronaldo 28+31=59)
-- so, you see, the argument how stats are inflated BECAUSE we have Messi and Ronaldo is only partially correct.
-- you see, even WITHOUT Messi and Ronaldo, stats in La Liga for Barca and Real inflated from 130-140 as average in Seasons 2000-2004, to 145, 150, 160 later
-- and even in the last Season without Ronaldo, La liga jumped to 188 Goals
-- so, in 2002: Figo, Zidane, Raul, Morientes won a CL and managed to score 69 Goals in 34 matches.
-- in 2006, Ronaldinho, Etoo, Larsson, Guily, Messi were on their prime (except young Messi), and we scored 78 Goals
-- and then, for example, in Tito's Season, without a coach who was ill, with a lot of injuries, and without Neymar and Suarez in attack, we managed to score 114 Goals in 34 matches
-- so: Galacticos from 2002: 69 goals
-- Barca's golden team from 2006: 78 Goals
-- Tito's team without a coach=114 Goals
I know, people will now say: we had a godlike Messi in that Season.
Ok, Messi scored 50 league goals that Season.
And Ronaldinho scored 9 and 17 goals (with free kicks and some penalty kicks) in our titles in 2005 and 2006.
So, seriously, is Messi from 2012 really a 5 times better scorer than Ronaldinho from 2005, or something just changed in the relation: Barca+Real vs rest of the la liga?
Football also evolves, and there has never been anyone like Messi doing what he does every week in La Liga before. His goal tally alone will inflate the stats massively, and the same goes for CR.
The question is: whether Messi is THAT much better than all Barca's legends from the past (Ronnie and Etoo, for example)?
-- while I could buy a story that Messi is much better than Ronnie and Etoo, there is a problem with CR7
-- he is just NOT at Ronaldinho's level imo
-- at best, he can be at Etoo+s level, for me
-- and now, Ronaldinho was scoring 10-20 league goals, and a crappy Cristiano can score 40-50 each Season
-- that makes you wonder: what happened
In the end, we have 2 options:
1. option:
-- Messi is waaaay better than everyone
-- Cristiano is better than Ronaldinho and Etoo
-- even Neymar is already better than Ronaldinho on his prime (they are playing on the same position, and Neymar is scoring much more)
Or, the 2nd option:
= stats of current players are inflated
-- Messi is the best ever, but his stats are also inflated
-- Cristiano is not that good, and he would be scoring 20-25-30 goals in 2004 or 2005
-- Neymar is good but not as good as prime Ronaldinho or Etoo
-- Neymar would score 10-15 Goals as a LW in 2004-2005-2006 against opponents from those days
I think that option 2 is a true answer.
But again, people will get offended (lol, I will never understand why exactly) if I say that current players are not THAT good.
You should not only look at what Real Madrid and Barcelona have done, but also look through all the other teams who played in la liga if the goals scored has increased.
Why?
-- imagine that Barca and Real had 20 Millions to spend per Season in the past (in 2000 or 2004)
-- and Osasuna and Malaga had 5 milllions each
-- Barca played 2:1 against Malaga and Osasuna
-- Malaga and Osasuna played 1:1 against eachother
-- today, Barca and Real have 100 Millions to spend
-- Osasuna and Malaga still have only 5 Millions to spend
What will happen?
-- instead of Barca:Malaga 2:1 and Barca:Osasuna 2:1, we will have:
-- Barca:Osasuna 4:1, Barca:Malaga 4:1
-- on the other hand, Osasuna and Malaga will stay play 1:1
-- why should their stats be inflated, lol?
Beside, trying to put football into numbers in just nonsense.
Sorry, a bad, bad argument.
Etoo played in 2008/09 when Barca scored 105 league goals. So he didn't miss the 'stat padding days'.
Etoo scored 25 and 26 Goals in his glorious Seasons in 2005 and 2006, when he was our key player, who took a lot of penalty kicks.
In 2009, when we turned to Messi, Etoo still managed to have his best Season (lol, who would say) with 30 League goals.
-- also, from 30 Goals in La liga in 2009, Etoo dropped to 12 and 21 for Inter in the next 2 Seasons (Seria A is not a statpadding contest, because top 2 teams are not THAT much stronger than the rest of the league, because Italy has problems with finances)
The numbers of goals going up dramatically since 10 years ago is due to Barca and Real having much better attacking players. Two of the greatest goal scorers ever that are repeating their goal scoring superiority in Europe not just la Liga.
I can't explain how disrespectful this is towards all other generations.
While Messi is a goat, and I am not that sure about Cristiano, I wrote before, Galacticos from 2000's who were hailed as the best team ever back then, managed to score 60-70 Goals per Season.
I mean, Galacticos with Zidane, Figo, Beckham, Brasilian Ronaldo, Raul were scoring 70, 70 and 86 Goals in those Seasons.
-- so, THESE players from the above were scoring 70-86 Goals per Season, and mighty Trio of Ronaldo-Benzema-Higuain scored 120+ Goals in 2012.
Lol. Just lol.
So, ALL of the current players in Barca and Real are just best ever?
Ozil and Khedira from 2012 are better than Figo-Zidane-Beckham-Guti, and this is why Real scored 120+ Goals?
+
+
= the best attacking trident the world has ever known and that is why they score so much, not because of weak competition. Hell, have you even watched our games vs City? They could have scored 15 goals between them in the tie and that is not exaggerating one little bit. 
