Inter Milan overcame Wesley Sneijder’s early red card to beat AC Milan 2-0 and moved nine points clear of their city rivals in the standings.
Victory for AC Milan would have taken them to within three points of Inter with a game in hand, but they were under pressure from the start and conceded after just ten minutes when Diego Milito drove low into the far corner from the left for his 13th league effort this term.
Sneijder was shown a red card for dissent with 27 minutes gone, yet Milan failed to capitalize and were left reeling by Goran Pandev’s 65th-minute free-kick.
Then in injury time Lucio was sent off for a handball inside the area, but Julio César kept out Ronaldinho’s penalty to seal the outcome.