Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri accepted Inter Milan deserved their 1-0 win last night.

Sulley Muntari hit the winner in bizarre fashion and Ranieri conceded: "This was not Juventus. Of course Inter deserve much of the credit for pressing us all over the field and forcing us into positions we didn't want, but we made mistakes and gave the ball away too often.

"In a way Inter let us off the hook with a few counters, but ironically we conceded on the weakest chance of all, as I maintain Ibra wanted to shoot and not pass to Muntari.

"We must admit that Inter played better and deserved the victory. We were hoping to get back into the top spots, but it didn't go that way.

"We played below our capabilities tonight and admittedly if we had taken home a point - which was entirely possible - Inter would've had more to complain about."

Juve are now six points adrift of leaders Inter and could focus more of their energy into the Champions League, where they are already qualified for the knockout phase.

"The Champions League is always a bit of a lottery, whereas Serie A requires consistency. We wanted to beat Inter tonight to stay in the top places, but we didn't do it and our season continues. Our objective is to improve upon last term's second place finish."