World Cup-winning Italy international Materazzi received a second yellow card for pulling his shirt over his head to celebrate his headed goal, which put Inter 4-1 up in the 68th minute.

"Everything was going really well until Materazzi's red card," said Mancini whose team's sixth victory from nine matches left them on 21 points, three ahead of Palermo, who visit Fiorentina on Sunday, and four ahead of Roma, 1-0 winners at Udinese.

"Then we had a few players who were suffering, like Vieira, but I couldn't make any substitutions.

"Up until that moment we had dominated the game, and if we still had 11 players on the pitch we would have scored more. But a match can quickly change, due to a sending-off or an injury."

AC Milan remain on seven points after losing their appeal against an eight-point handicap for match-fixing on Friday, but their coach Carlo Ancelotti refused to give up on the title.

"We just have to live match by match. The season is very long and we have to maintain the belief that we can have a great season," he said.