Inter coach Leonardo has leapt to the defence of striker Samuel Eto’o after the Cameroon captain was heavily criticised in some quarters for his performance against Juventus on Sunday.

Eto’o missed a sitter from five metres, hitting the bar with an open goal to aim at while also completely missing an attempted volley as Inter rallied late on in the Serie A clash.

They lost the game 1-0, Eto’o’s misses proving costly as they slipped to eight points behind leaders Milan.

Inter can close that gap to five if they win away to Fiorentina this evening, in a match that was postponed in December due to the Nerazzurri’s participation at the Club World Cup.

“It takes a brave man to criticise Eto’o, he’s scored 27 goals,” said Leonardo.

“It can happen that in one second he doesn’t find the right space or contact but talking about an Eto’o problem that doesn’t exist, I can’t believe someone can get knocked down for something like that.

“It seems to me as if it’s an attack against Inter, as if they (the critics) were waiting for us to lose a game.”

Playing today
Serie A: 18.30 Fiorentina vs Inter; Sampdoria vs Genoa.