Italian Serie A Match Report: Inter Milan vs Bari: Eto’o and Milito double sinks Bari - Part 2
Samuel Eto’o sprinted into the Bari box, before pulling a cross back for Milito. The Argentine jumped up and headed the ball into the back of the net with ease. This goal acted as the strikers way of telling the press, that they could publish whatever they
wanted to, since his heart belonged to the team that he was a part of at the moment.
Soon after the goal, Walter Samuel picked up an injury. It was believed that it was a small knock earlier but the player was in a lot of distress and had to be substituted on the thirty second minute mark. Ivan Cordoba was brought on to replace Samuel. This
injury was obviously very alarming for Benitez who had a Champions League match coming up the following week and would have been hoping that one of his best players, didn’t pick up a very serious injury.
As the half progressed Inter started to pile on the pressure. Their dominance in the half was shown by the fact that they ended the half with a shot on goal. Julio Cesar knocked a ball long into the opposition half with just seconds to go and the ball was
received by Eto’o. The forward took a right footed shot from outside the box and managed to miss by millimetres.
The half was ended almost immediately after and Inter were the happier team going into the tunnel on the break. Benitez was quite possibly the happiest person on the pitch at the break. This was because everyone had been suggesting it was time for the manager
to leave, but the way Inter were performing all those critics were left eating their own words.
The second half kicked off with the first attempt falling to the Bari side. This early lapse of concentration that Inter were showing, would have been spotted by their European competitors and Benitez would have also noted this fact on the night.
Four minutes into the second half and Inter had a penalty. Abdelkader Gheezal was penalised for handling the ball in the area and the referee didn’t think twice before pointing to the spot.
Samuel Eto’o took the resulting spot kick and converted it with ease. The striker rifled the ball into the bottom left corner, leaving the keeper with no chance at stopping the shot. The only reason Inter got the penalty was due to the extra pressure that
the team started to put on their opponents shoulders.
One player who was not having the best of games, was Inter’s star midfielder, Wesley Sneijder. The midfielder was missing almost every opportunity that he got and just didn’t seem to be the player that everyone has expected him to be. This could have been
due to the fact, that Sneijder also felt unhappy with the way things were being conducted at the San Siro under Benitez and admitted to wanting a move away from the club before the match.
The one player on the Inter side who was unaffected by all the drama was Eto’o and the Cameroonian forward was at it again on the sixty third minute mark. The forward stepped up to take the second penalty that Inter were awarded and slotted it home with
ease once again. This time the penalty was awarded thanks to Lucio who drew a foul out of Emmanuel Rivas. Lucio being one of the best defenders in the world knows exactly how a defender thinks and used his insight to win that spot kick.
(continued in part 3)
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