Massimiliano Allegri played down AC Milan's chances of challenging Inter for the Serie A title despite their 1-0 win over their rivals in Sunday's Derby della Madonnina. 

Milan moved to within seven points of their city rivals at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, with Pervis Estupinan's 35th-minute strike the difference between the two sides. 

Indeed, the Rossoneri's victory saw them win both Milan derbies in the league for the first time since 2010-11, when Allegri was in his first stint with the club. 

Milan have also now won three games in a row against Inter in all competitions for the first time since the period between November 2010 and August 2011, while also reaching 60 points after 28 Serie A games for the fourth time since 2009-10. 

The Opta supercomputer has assigned Milan just a 5.6% chance of overhauling Inter from the summit, and Allegri seemed to agree with that assumption even after his team's latest victory. 

"Inter have a seven-point lead. That's a big advantage, they are still the strongest team and the clear favourites," Allegri told DAZN Italia as quoted by Football Italia.

"We could've done better and been sharper in the final third in a few situations.

"We can only be happy, because we have kept Juventus at -10 points, Como and Roma at -9, so it was important to get a result today."

Allegri has continually stated that the team's goal for this season was to seal a return to the Champions League, and the Italian continued to stand by his statement on Sunday. 

"We worked seven months to make sure we reached March in the best possible condition," Allegri added. 

"This is when the most important games of the season are played and everything is decided."

But Milan were made to work for their win, having registered an expected goals (xG) total of 0.77 from their nine shots to Inter's 1.24 from their 11 attempts. 

The second half saw Cristian Chivu's side create the better chances, most notably Federico Dimarco, who fired over from inside the penalty area. 

And though Allegri conceded that his team were on the back foot for much of the second half, he believed his side were worthy of all three points.

"We used up a lot of energy in the first half, then obviously Inter stepped up a gear, and we allowed them a few more crosses when we sat deeper," continued Allegri.

"However, apart from Dimarco's chance on the counter-attack, I don't remember genuine Inter chances.

"We had some favourable situations too and could've gone into the break 2-0 up.

"Having said that, yet again, I need to point out Inter remain the clear favourites for the Scudetto. This victory gives us a morale-booster."