AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli says qualifying for next season's Champions League remains top priority even after a 2-1 win over Roma put their Serie A title ambitions back on track.
The victory ends a four-match winless run in all competitions for Milan, whose hopes of a first scudetto in 10 years suffered a blow following back-to-back league defeats to Spezia and Inter.
The Rossoneri topped the league standings until two weeks ago, and Sunday's thrilling win in Rome made sure the gap with Inter, who lead by four points, did not get any wider.
Pioli suggested that moving eight points clear of Roma in fifth place could be more significant for his side in the final few months of the season.
“If you said a few months ago that we would be second in the table, nobody would have believed it,” he told Sky Italia.
“If we instead had 40 points, they would have said that we were having a great season, fighting for the Champions League after all these years.
“There are seven very strong teams, in the end only four will be happy and we hope to be one of them.”
Milan have not featured in the Champions League since the 2013/14 season, and Pioli was keen to point out the progress made by his team.
“We’re doing something important; we have 17 more points than we did last season, we’re the youngest team and the team that has played the most games,” he said.
“It was a performance of great spirit and quality, I’m really satisfied that we’ve managed to win."
The visitors hit the bar and had two goals disallowed before Franck Kessie scored from the penalty spot to give them a deserved half-time lead.
Roma, who also had a goal chalked off in the first half, quickly responded after the break when midfielder Jordan Veretout curled in his 10th league goal of the season.
But a superb turn and finish from Ante Rebic put the visitors back in front after 58 minutes and they held on despite late pressure from the hosts.
Roma remain fifth and the defeat continued a poor run for coach Paulo Fonseca against fellow top-seven sides.
He has earned just three points from a possible 24 this season in games against Milan, Inter, Juventus, Lazio, Atalanta and Napoli.
“We got the first 20 minutes wrong. We didn’t start well and against Milan that means it becomes difficult,” he said.
“We got back into the game and played well. It’s true that we started badly, and the chances created by Milan were mostly from turnovers we gave away.”
