Inter Milan took a step closer to the Serie A title by beating city rivals AC Milan 2-0 and Inter coach Jose Mourinho claimed his side could have won with seven men, after they had two men sent off in the derby.

The Nerazzurri ended the game with nine men, but still beat their nearest rivals for the Scudetto to open up a nine-point gap at the top of the table. Referee Gianluca Rocchi sent Wesley Sneijder off with a 25th-minute red card and then sent Lucio off in second half stoppage time, giving a penalty to Milan for a handball inside the penalty area.

"We were perfect. We would have won this game even with seven men," said Mourinho. "Maybe with six we would have struggled, but we would have won with seven."

Julio Cesar saved Ronaldinho's spot-kick and Milan coach Leonardo acknowledged that his side had been beaten by the better team. He added that they would learn from the defeat.

"We already knew that Inter are strong and one game alone cannot determine where we are," he said. "We will look back at all the positive things we have done recently and look forward to what we can potentially do.

"All this game does is teach us a few lessons," said Leonardo. "It will not knock us off track and we will carry on taking each game as it comes."