Rome, Jan 16 (IANS) Inter’s head coach Claudio Ranieri said their 1-0 win in the Milan derby has given them a big boost in the Italian Serie A football title race.

“We are taking huge steps forward and it was important to beat AC Milan, the first head-to-head in our favour. Evidently, the other three defeats to Juventus, Napoli and Udinese taught us a lesson,” Ranieri was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

“We were tight, tactically smart and ready to hit them at any moment. At times this season we played badly and won. Now we have been doing well and have rediscovered the energy to get back to our best.”

The result was their sixth consecutive Serie A win and puts them in fifth place, back in the Scudetto race.

“From the first day I arrived I said the Scudetto is out in front of us. Juventus slowed down this weekend and we stopped Milan. The first thing was to get into the Europa League places, now the next step is the Champions League,” said the former Chelsea manager.