AC Milan attacker Junior Messias feels they're getting back to their best.

Messias believes automatic Champions League qualification is now on track.

He said, “This season there's an awareness of what we are. Apart the negative period, we've always been there, our enthusiasm has never been lacking, even when we were struggling and if it hadn't been for Napoli, we could have hoped for the Scudetto.

“Now we're three points behind Inter and second place. We're on our way."

On coach Stefano Pioli's tactical change, Messias added: “We couldn't understand what was happening, but it was more a mental factor. After the draw with Roma the team collapsed a bit.

“We needed to change something and shake things up, thank goodness it went well. Now we're defending better with the new formation, but the offensive side needs to be improved."