Samuel Eto’o finished off what has been a brilliant year for him by scoring two goals as Inter beat Palermo 3-1 to win the Italian Cup final.
Eto’o’s 36th goal of the season gave Inter the lead in the 26th minute. Thiago Motta won the ball while being brought down by Hernandez; Sneijder picked it up and, seeing Eto’o’s run, slid a delightful pass in behind the defence for Samuel to latch onto, bear down on goal and sidefoot past Sirigu into the far corner.
In the 76th minute, the same combination made it 2-0. Pandev won the ball with a little luck and fed Sneijder, who released Eto’o once more and – with what was almost a mirror image of his first – the Cameroonian striker entered the box and slotted into the far corner with another display of clinical finishing.
The game seemed over at that point, but if their is one thing we learnt about this Inter side this season is that they never make it easier on us or themselves. So it was not really a surprise when Munoz headed past Julio Cesar from Miccoli’s corner in the 88th minute. How the referee and his assistant failed to see that the ball had gone out of play before the corner was awarded is beyond me. But luckily that referring decision did not decide the game as two minutes into added time, Milito put the game to bed, turning home Pandev’s pull-back just yards from goal.
With today’s victory the Nerazzurri won their seventh Coppa Italia to add to their trophy cabinet, and their 15th trophy in the last 7 years.
So just like last season, Inter end the season on a high note, winning a trophy in its last game. This time is was a Coppa Italia instead of the Champions League. So, was this season a success for Inter?
On the plus side Inter won the Coppa Italia, the Supercoppa Italiana and Fifa World Club Championship. They finished second in Serie A and went out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The biggest negative (besides hiring Rafa) was the loss to Atleticl Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup.
What did you think of Inter’s season? Are you happy or disappointed with how it went?
