Ranieri interview after Milan victory

Here are the coach's comments:

How do you feel right now?

“At the moment I'm still caught up in the adrenaline. Maybe when I watch everything back I'll be even more moved by it all. It was lovely, though. It's always fantastic when your own people appreciate you.

“We had a difficult start to the season but the team never lost their unity. They all pulled together and worked as a team. They really worked together as a unit and helped each other all the time and I want to thank my players for that because it wasn't easy in that situation, when everything was dark and it seemed like nothing was going well. I'm so pleased for them, for the fans, the chairman, everyone.”

There was a moment just before kick-off when the Curva was displaying that very touching tifo and it seemed like it took you a while to recover after the game began. Was that so?

“No, I was looking at the referee and telling him to start, but he'd been told to wait another minute. It's nice. I've done this job up until now for the feelings – both good and bad – that football can give you. Obviously, the good ones are nicer.”

What kind of season has it been?

“The players have followed me from day one. Some of them knew me already and knew the kind of character I am. I told them: you have to help me because I can't do it on my own. That was after asking the fans for their help too.

“The lads have been intelligent. They've been excellent. I gave them belief because when I arrived morale was obviously rock bottom. Self-confidence had been almost completely eradicated but slowly we managed to turn things around.

“We lost the first game to Napoli but played quite well. Then we went to London to play Tottenham and we produced a great performance. We managed to snatch a draw at the end and that's the sort of thing I love to see because I'd told my players to fight till the very end so that you can leave the pitch in the knowledge that, if you've lost, it was because your opponents were better, or had individual moments go their way.

“I'm fine with that because when the players give everything for the team, I can only accept their response. Little by little we got ourselves sorted out and put together that 19-match unbeaten run, which was huge.”

Do you believe Roma can qualify for the Champions League?

“I've never believed anything, except in working hard and clearing your mind after a win or a defeat. That's what I've always said: forget about what we've done. Let's roll our sleeves up and train hard because we have another game with different opponents, different dynamics, a different playing style, different tactics. We must always be ready and know how to play and how to stop the opposition playing.

"I believe in my players. I know we have to play Torino and they're a good, compact, energetic team who have had an excellent season. We'll go there and try to play our game then we'll see what we've been able to do at the end of the season.”