Serie A: Brescia 1 Inter Milan 1

Inter Milan survived a late penalty attempt to escape with a 1-1 draw away to Brescia in the Serie A on Friday.

Brescia captain Andrea Caracciolo levelled the match at 1-1 after Samuel Eto’o opened the goal-scoring for the visitors, but saw his late penalty saved by Inter custodian Julio Cesar.

The visitors had a slight glimmer of hope when Caracciolo was then sent off in injury time, levelling the proceedings at 10 men apiece after Ivan Cordoba saw red, but it was not to be as Inter stumbled in their pursuit of Serie A leaders AC Milan.

Inter temporarily narrow the gap between themselves and their city rivals to four points, but Milan will almost certainly widen it to seven when they host bottom-placed Bari on Saturday.

Brescia stay second bottom on the table, but could remain two points away from escaping the drop zone if Lecce fall at home to Bologna on Sunday.

Eto’o nabbed his fourth goal from three league games in the 18th minute, the Cameroon international flicking on Andrea Ranocchia’s header at the six-yard box following Wesley Sneijder’s corner.

The visitors had looked dangerous for much of the match and by rights should have been two goals ahead by the time Caracciolo found an unlikely equaliser in the 85th minute.

It came from a dreadful defensive error, with Cordoba inexplicably nodding Alessandro Diamanti’s corner kick forward into the path of the Brescia skipper, who gleefully headed beyond Cesar.

The Inter substitute then gave Brescia a chance to win it when he pulled down Brazilian substitute Eder in the area in the 89th minute, but Caracciolo was unable to convert with the resultant spot kick.

There was still more drama to come as Caracciolo joined Cordoba on the sidelines after earning a second caution for time-wasting, though Inter could not capitalise in the dying stages.