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Inter Milan’s Macedonian forward Goran Pandev is jubilant Sunday after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match against A.C. Milan. (Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images)

Goals from Diego Milito and Goran Pandev gave Inter Milan a 2-0 win over city rival AC Milan on Sunday, extending its lead at the top of the Serie A to nine points.

Inter played most of the match with 10 men after midfielder Wesley Sneijder was sent off for sarcastically applauding referee Gianluca Rocchi and it finished with only nine on the pitch after Lucio was also red-carded for a deliberate handball in second-half stoppage time.

The result means Inter remains top with 49 points. Milan is second on 40, though Leonardo’s side has a match in hand.

Inter made the better start, with Sneijder twice going close. He hit the outside of the post with a long-range shot and then forced Milan goalkeeper Dida into a sharp save from close range.

Milito opened the scoring in the 10th minute after his strike partner Pandev found him behind Milan’s defence and the Argentine shot low under Dida.

Inter went down to 10 men in the 27th minute when Sneijder was dismissed. Until then, the Dutchman had been dominating the midfield and his teammates had to lead him away from referee Rocchi and off the pitch.

Milan started the second half more brightly and Inter keeper Julio Cesar had to be alert to stop Clarence Seedorf’s close-range header, while Ronaldinho went close moments later with a shot from the edge of the area.

Milan’s Marco Borriello then twice headed on target as David Beckham started to find more space to cross from the right wing.

But, it was Inter that added to the scoreline, Pandev curling home a free kick in the 65th minute after Giuseppe Favalli brought down Maicon.

Cesar stopped Milan from adding a consolation goal in injury time when he saved Ronaldinho’s penalty after Lucio had been sent off.

Palermo moves up with win

In Sunday’s earlier games, Abel Hernandez scored twice and Igor Budan once to help Palermo to a 3-0 win over Fiorentina that took the Sicilian side up to fifth.

Palermo has 34 points, three behind Napoli in fourth place. Napoli beat Livorno 2-0, with Cristian Maggio scoring in the first half and Luca Cigarini adding a free kick in second-half injury time after Livorno goalkeeper Alfonso De Lucia was sent off for a deliberate handball.

Juventus, which lost 2-1 at home to AS Roma on Saturday, has slipped to sixth place following five losses in six matches.

Palermo took the lead in the 28th minute. Fabio Miccoli shot from the edge of the area and hit the bar but Hernandez reacted quick and headed into the open goal.

The Uruguayan doubled his tally in the 37th, running through to steer the ball between goalkeeper Sebastien Frey’s legs after Juan Pastore had slipped a pass through the Fiorentina defence.

Budan added the third in the 57th minute when Fabio Liverani flicked on Miccoli’s free kick and the Croatian spun round and volleyed past Frey.

“I am very pleased with the match,” Palermo coach Delio Rossi said. “We wanted a excellent showing and I am pleased for the guys.

“The Champions League is still a far off dream, but we shall see,” Rossi said. “I haven’t done much, the praise should go to the players who believe in what we are doing.”

Lucarelli’s missed chances

Napoli went on to win its game after Livorno striker Cristiano Lucarelli squandered a fantastic chance to open the scoring in the 29th minute, heading over from close range, and then missed a penalty in the second half.

“I am very proud of what these players did,” Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri said. “Today we had a lot of players missing and it was an vital test for us.”

Shortly before the break, Napoli had a strike by German Denis ruled out as the Argentine was offside, but Maggio made no mistake in first-half injury time. Cigarini hit a long pass from the back and Maggio volleyed home his fourth goal of the season.

Nine minutes into the second half, Michele Pazienza fouled Livorno’s Martin Bergvold in the area, but Napoli goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis saved Lucarelli’s penalty and the striker hit the rebound wide.

“We are still a bit naive and nearly threw away the result,” Mazzarri said. “We were missing a few players and our resources were stretched, but we stuck to our job and that bodes well for the future.”

In the closing minutes, De Lucia was dismissed for his handball on the edge of the area. Midfielder Davide Marchini went in goal, and could do small to stop Cigarini scoring with a free kick.

Also Sunday it was: Bologna 2 Bari 1; Genoa 2 Atalanta 0; Lazio 1 Chievo Verona 1; Siena 1 Cagliari 1; and Udinese 2 Sampdoria 3.

Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs, Klaus Meine, James Kottak and Pawel Maciwoda of the Scorpions pose backstage at a charity concert in 2006 in London, England. The band will launch a three-year farewell tour in May. (Jo Hale/Getty Images)

German rockers the Scorpions say they will be launching a farewell tour this spring, ready to exit the stage after a 40-year run.

The band announced on its website Sunday that “we agree we have reached the end of the road.”

The band — with hits such as Still Loving You, Rock You Like a Hurricane, No One Like You and Wind of Change — was founded in Hannover in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker and drummer Wolfgang Dziony, who left in 1973. Singer Klaus Meine joined a few years later.

The band, which has sold more than 100 million records, has gone through a merry-go-round of four bassists, six drummers and two guitarists.

Current members include Schenker, Meine, Matthias Jabs (guitar), Pawel Maciwoda (bass) and James Kottak (drums, percussion)

The band thanked their fans and said their March release, Sting in the Tail, would be their last.

“While we were working on our album these past few months, we could literally feel how powerful and creative our work was … We end our career with an album we consider to be one of the best we have ever recorded,” said the statement.

In May, they will embark on a three-year concert odyssey around the world, spanning five continents and starting with a concert in Leipzig.

So far, other dates plotted include Switzerland, France and Russia with more to be announced.

“We’d rather go out with a killer album and follow our hearts. We achieved everything you can achieve with a rock band,” Meine told German paper Bild am Sonntag.

Kevin Martin and his rink are off to Vancouver with a excellent win under their belts. (Canadian Press file)

Kevin Martin and his Alberta foursome are off to the blazing media heat of the Vancouver Olympics with a needed win under their belts.

The Canadian men’s representative for the 2010 Games beat archrival Team Howard 5-4 on Sunday afternoon at the BDO Classic Canadian Open in Winnipeg — the last competitive match the foursome will play before leaving for the West Coast.

Martin left Glenn Howard having to place an in-turn draw into the four-foot as shot stone to stay alive in the eighth and final end, but the Ontario-based skip came up just small.

With the victory, the Alberta rink, also including third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert, won $25,000.

Team Howard, with third Richard Hart, second Brent Laing and lead Craig Savill, earned $17,500.

After qualifying for the Olympics by beating Howard in the trials a month ago, Martin’s rink had played poorly at the last Grand Slam event and was looking to rebound.

“It’s nice we played a solid game, against real tough competition,” Martin told Scott Russell of CBC Sports. “It bodes well going forward and now we have a couple of weeks to get ready.”

This was Martin’s 14th Grand Slam title, but he hadn’t won since 2007.

“We were stuck on 13 for a while,” he said. “It’s so hard to win one of these things, so 14 means a lot.”

Quick lead

Martin was off early, picking up two with the hammer in the first end, taking advantage of a Howard error.

With two of Martin’s yellows in the ice, Howard tried for a double takeout, but only picked up the front one, leaving his rival with an simple hit and stick for the pair.

A rocky second end saw both teams commit errors, but in the end a nice final rock by Martin eliminated two of Howard’s and forced the Ontario skip to take one, cutting the lead to 2-1.

That went to 4-1 in the third when Martin left Howard looking at curling’s version of the well-known bowling 7-10 split, with one on each side of the 12-foot circle.

Howard did all he could by taking out the one on the left, but Martin easily eliminated to score two.

After settling for one with the hammer in the fifth end to make it 4-2, Howard left Martin with a chance for three after a sixth that was spent battling around the four foot.

But Martin couldn’t get the huge score, though he did nudge in for one for 5-2 heading to the seventh, where Howard took advantage of an open hit for two to make it 5-4 coming home, hammer to the Alberta rink.