Eto´o, Milito fire Inter up to third

New Inter Milan strike pairing Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito scored the goals as the Italian Champions beat Parma 2-0 at the San Siro on Sunday to move up to third in Serie A.

Eto’o and Milito were bought by coach Jose Mourinho to replace departed hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic and they repaid the Portuguese’s faith by both scoring their second goals in three matches.

It leaves Inter in excellent shape ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League visit of Barcelona and Ibrahimovic.

But those two second half goals did not tell the true story of a game in which Inter toiled for long periods and were unconvincing in a stale first 45 minutes.

The only significant chance they fashioned in the opening half came on 11 minutes when another summer signing, Wesley Sneijder, forced Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante into a fine save.

Mourinho was clearly unhappy with what he saw and he wasted little time in shaking things up, throwing on striker Mario Balotelli for midfielder Thiago Motta at half-time and switching from a 4-4-2 formation to 4-3-3.

That move almost paid instant dividends as Balotelli twice came close to giving the hosts the lead in the first five minutes of the second period.

Twice he found himself free at the back post barely eight yards out but he hit his first shot weakly along the ground and, leaning back like an American Football punter, he skied the second well clear of the crossbar.

The move, though, had changed the complexion of the game and Inter looked in control but they survived a scare at the other end when Jonathan Biabiany skipped through their defence and clipped the ball past goalkeeper Julio Cesar only to see it run across the face of goal.

Inter got the breakthrough their second half performance deserved when Eto’o curled a delightful shot from just outside the box over Mirante and into the net on 71 minutes.

The clincher came two minutes from time when a long ball from out wide by Balotelli found Milito unmarked in the area. The Argentine took a touch and poked the ball beyond Mirante’s despairing dive in one movement before the defence could recover.

Balotelli ended his eventful afternoon in embarrassing fashion when he found himself clean through in injury time only to try to over-complicate matters — as he tried to round Mirante, the goalkeeper easily plucked the ball off his toes.

In other games Claudio Ranieri began his AS Roma career with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory at 10-man Siena thanks to a late free-kick from substitute John Arne Riise.

The comeback of the day went to Udinese and their striker Antonio Di Natale who scored a second-half hat-trick as the hosts overturned a 2-1 half-time deficit to beat Catania 4-2.

Juventus are top of the table following their 2-0 win at Lazio on Saturday while Sampdoria joined them on three wins out of three after Daniele Mannini scored the winner in a 1-0 success at Atalanta.