Inter Milan took a three-goal lead and then, playing a man short, held on to beat rival AC Milan 4-3 in Italy's biggest derby Saturday, extending its lead atop Serie A.
Hernan Crespo and Dejan Stankovic scored during a five-minute span in the first half and Zlatan Ibrahimovic found the net one minute into the second half, giving Inter a lead 3-0 at San Siro.
Inter Milan's Hernan Crespo celebrates Saturday after scoring against AC Milan.
(Fillippo Monteforte /AFP/Getty Images)
Clarence Seedorf scored Milan's first goal in the 50th minute but Marco Materazzi restored Inter's three-goal lead with a header in the 68th.
Materazzi picked up his second yellow card for pulling his jersey over his head to celebrate and was expelled, leaving Inter with 10 men for the final 22 minutes.
Down 4-1, Milan almost pulled out a draw with goals from Alberto Gilardino — his first in more than six months — in the 76th minute and another by Kaka in the 90th.
Inter improved to 21 points, three ahead of Palermo, which visits Fiorentina on Sunday.
Milan remained mid-table with seven points, having started the season with an eight-point penalty for its role in the Italian match-fixing scandal.
Also, Alessandro Del Piero scored his 200th goal for Juventus in a 1-0 win over Frosinone in Serie B.
AS Roma sneaks by Udinese
In the day's only other Serie A game, AS Roma won 1-0 at Udinese with a 66th-minute goal by defender Matteo Ferrari. Roma remained in third place but improved to 17 points, three behind Inter.
Inter went ahead in the 17th when Crespo beat Marek Jankulovski to head in a free kick. Stankovic made it 2-0 five minutes later with a long shot that found the top corner.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti made three substitutions to start the second half — Gilardino for Filippo Inzaghi, Ricardo Oliveira for Massimo Ambrosini and Paolo Maldini for Jankulovski.
The moves seemed irrelevant only 60 seconds later when Ibrahimovic scored on a counterattack with a mid-range shot that Milan goalkeeper Dida could have stopped.
Seedorf pulled one back for Milan five minutes later, with a shot from the edge of the area that was deflected.
Milan was energized and Oliveira's shot two minutes later was stopped only by an excellent save by Inter keeper Julio Cesar. Gilardino then had a goal annulled for offside in the 57th.
Milan's brief spurt appeared to end with Materazzi's goal, but his ensuing expulsion gave the Rossoneri more life.
Gilardino leaped over Ivan Cordoba to head in Milan's second goal and Kaka scored with a lob in the 90th.
Del Piero scores 200th
In Turin, Del Piero scored his 200th goal with Juventus in the 73rd minute, converting from a rebound after Pavel Nedved's shot hit the post.
"It means a lot — for my ties to this club, these fans and this city," said Del Piero, who scored 13 minutes after entering.
Juventus now has 13 points in Serie B, five fewer than leader Genoa. Juve's 17-point penalty from the scandal was reduced by eight points by an arbitration board Friday.
A goal for Juventus by Valeri Bojinov in the 22nd was annulled when David Trezeguet was ruled offside, although replays showed Trezeguet was not behind the defence. Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon preserved Juve's victory with a one-handed stop to intercept a dangerous cross four minutes from time.
In Udine, both clubs came close to scoring in the first half.
Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni saved a dangerous header by Antonio Di Natale and Roma captain Francesco Totti wasted a one-on-one chance with Udinese keeper Morgan De Sanctis.
Udinese ended with 10 men after Sulley Muntari was expelled for a tackle on Ferrari in the 70th.
Players in both divisions wore T-shirts with the message "Free Gabriele Torsello" as they walked onto the field, an appeal for the release of an Italian photographer kidnapped in Afghanistan.
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