Controversial Eto´o penalty earns Inter point

Samuel Eto’o converted a hotly disputed penalty to earn injury-hit champions Inter Milan a point in a disappointing 1-1 home draw with newly promoted Brescia on Saturday.

Andrea Caracciolo had given stubborn Brescia a first half lead but Eto’o notched his 17th goal in 16 games in this incredible season for the Cameroon captain after he himself went down in the box.

However, TV replays showed Eto’o had fallen over after treading on the ball under pressure from Gaetano Berardi.

Brescia coach Giuseppe Iachini and goalkeeper Michele Arcari complained about the penalty award.

“For the way the game developed, for what we did tactically and our performance, yes there’s bitterness because we could have had 3 points,” said Iachini.

“It’s a shame because after the game against Roma we haven’t been lucky, things went against us.”

Arcari added: “Maybe it was a penalty but there was a foul beforehand on Berardi, but we’re at the San Siro and we’re Brescia.”

The draw means second-placed Inter closed the gap to leaders Lazio to three points ahead of Sunday’s Rome derby in which the sky blues host Roma.

Inter coach Rafael Benitez unsurprisingly saw things differently.

“From the bench it seemed a penalty to me,” he said.

However, what he could not hide from was Inter’s third successive home draw in the league.

Inter have scored just 12 goals in 10 Serie A games, less than half the 26 they had at the same stage last season.

“We can talk about (Diego) Milito, Eto’o, (Goran) Pandev, all these players have to score goals, that’s the difference (to last year),” said Benitez.

Milito has scored only twice this season after 30 in 51 games last time while Pandev has scored none, although he managed only three in 27 in the previous campaign.

With a dearth of fit central midfielders, Benitez was forced to play Wesley Sneijder in an unfamiliar defensive midfield position but he still had the first sight of goal, forcing Michele Arcari into a low save from his free-kick.

Milito, starting his first game for a month, had a smart turn and shot on 10 minutes that sneaked just wide.

But Brescia were ahead on 14 minutes, moments after Alessandro Diamanti’s shot had been deflected wide.

Nicolas Cordova launched a diagonal ball forward and while Caracciolo’s first touch was excellent, his second wasn’t but he got a lucky break to bundle past Walter Samuel and then managed to slide in to beat Lucio to the ball and slip it under Luca Castellazzi.

Inter’s response was immediate with Eto’o flicking a header just wide, Arcari beating away a fierce Coutinho effort and an Eto’o cross glancing the bar.

Pandev had two chances just after the half hour mark to open his account for the season but he shot wide with the first and sliced the second high and wide from seven yards following Eto’o’s brilliant tee-up.

Inter were almost made to pay again when Jonathan Zebina went on a marauding run forward before heading wide at the back post.

Inter’s injury problems weren’t helped by Maicon picking up a hamstring problem in the first half while Samuel had to come off a few minutes after the restart following a clash of knees with Caracciolo.

And as Benitez had chosen to replace Sneijder with Joel Obi at half-time to add steel to his midfield, he was out of substitutions with 40 minutes still to play.

Inter were struggling to create chances but on 68 minutes Eto’o beat his marker Berardi on the left only for Arcari to come out and smother his shot.

But then came Inter’s gift on 73 minutes with Eto’o slotting home to Arcari’s right.

Milito had a glorious late chance to snatch the three points after a ricochet fell kindly to him in the box deep into injury time but he blazed his effort wastefully over.