Samuel Eto'o scored twice - his second goal coming with a
spectacular bicycle kick - and Inter Milan beat Livorno 3-0
Wednesday to restore a four-point lead in Serie A.
Last week, Eto'o scored a key goal against Chelsea to ensure
Inter's spot in the Champions League quarterfinals, but he hadn't
found the target in the Italian league since Dec. 20.
Last-place Livorno threatened more until Eto'o was given time
to line up an angled shot in the 36th minute for his opening score
at the San Siro. Five minutes later, the Cameroon international
took a pass from Goran Pandev and threw himself around in the air,
befuddling Livorno's defense with his acrobatic goal.
Eto'o, who swapped places with Zlatan Ibrahimovic going to
Barcelona in the offseason, now has 10 goals for the Serie A
season.
Brazil right back Maicon made it 3-0 with a sharply angled
shot in the 61st.
Inter welcomed back defender Christian Chivu to the lineup,
77 days after he fractured his skull.
Inter leads with 63 points. AS Roma won 2-0 at Bologna to tie
AC Milan for second with 59 points each. Milan allowed a
90th-minute score from Valeri Bojinov in a 1-0 loss at Parma.
John Arne Riise deflected in a long shot from Daniele De
Rossi in the 49th and Julio Baptista came off the bench to score
Roma's second goal in the 82nd following a near-perfect setup from
Alessio Cerci.
Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati inexplicably gave the ball
right back to Parma, leading to Bojinov's close-range score, then
Milan lost key midfielder Andrea Pirlo to a red card for a hard
foul a minute later.
Roma takes a 20-match unbeaten streak into its match against
Inter on Saturday, while Milan faces Lazio on Sunday.
"It's going to be the game of the year against Inter," Roma
coach Claudio Ranieri said. "They've been a superpower for the last
few years but we're right there and we're not giving anything up."
In the fight for fourth place and the final Champions League
berth, Palermo moved one point ahead of Sampdoria with a 2-2 draw
at Genoa, allowing a penalty seven minutes into second-half added
time for Genoa to equalize.
Antonio Cassano opened the scoring for Sampdoria in his first
match against his hometown club, but Bari hit back for a 2-1 win
with Brazilian forward Paulo Barreto scoring the winner with a
header four minutes from time.
Cassano didn't celebrate after scoring, holding his hands
together instead as an apologetic gesture to the crowd.
Juventus can tie Palermo for fourth with a win at Napoli on
Thursday.
In Wednesday's other games, it was: Atalanta 3, Cagliari 1;
Catania 1, Fiorentina 0; Lazio 2, Siena 0; and Udinese 0, Chievo
Verona 0.
