Argentina's Esteban Cambiasso scored the opening goal for Inter Milan on Wednesday as the Serie A leaders beat hosts Lazio 2-0 despite the dismissal of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Second-place Roma won 2-1 at 10-man newcomers Torino and remained seven points adrift of Inter, who boast 45 points from 17 games and are now just one win away from Roma's all-time record of 11 straight victories.
At Rome's Stadio Olimpico, Lazio were the first to threaten through Congolese Gabyi Mudingayi, who saw Julio Cesar save his fierce drive on seven minutes.
On 24 minutes, Stephen Makinwa came face to face with the Brazilian keeper but was blocked by Marco Materazzi shortly before Esteban Cambiasso made a first attempt for Inter, having his shot deflected by a defender.
The Argentine midfielder did not fail on 40 minutes, firing home after an effort from Hernan Crespo.
A seeming turning point before the break came as Zlatan Ibrahimovic was dismissed on a second yellow for kicking away a dead ball.
Inter hardly seemed to suffer from the dismissal and secured their 10th straight win on 85 minutes with a Materazzi header.
In Turin, Roma captain Francesco Totti had a spot kick saved by Christian Abbiati before notching a lucky goal when he deflected a shot from his Brazilian team mate Mancini. Totti thus strengthened his top scorer position with 12 goals, despite missing his third spot kick.
Torino had Ivan Franceschini dismissed for the last-man handball that caused the spot kick but managed a consolation from Alessandro Rosina after Mancini scored Roma's second goal.
Third-place Palermo crushed bottom side Ascoli 4-0, while Sampdoria beat Livorno 4-1. Sampdoria lie joint-fourth on 23 points with Udinese -- winners by 2-1 with 10 men at promoted Atalanta -- and Catania, who lost 3-0 at penalized giants AC Milan.
Empoli, with a game in hand to newcomers Catania, won 1-0 in a Tuscany derby against Siena, while penalized Fiorentina beat hosting Cagliari 2-0. Chievo Verona edged Reggina 3-2 and Messina drew 1-1 with Parma.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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