Former Juventus midfielder Massimo Mauro feels AC Milan are struggling with the status of being champions.

Milan have hit a major form slump since the turn of the year.

Mauro told Tuttosport: "There is a phrase that is valid in sport and even more in football and it is a true phrase: winning is not the difficult thing. It is much more difficult to confirm yourself.

"Last year (Stefanp) Pioli pulled out the 110 for hundred from this team. Now the players seem different yet they are more or less always the same. And the coach is also the same yet he seems different. This also helps to understand how much value Juventus' winning streak was: in the tenth and in the eleventh season they got it all wrong, in the previous nine they won as many championships. And it's something really difficult to achieve.

"Returning to Milan, it all happened in one month and from the outside it's difficult to explain. However, we see that the players' performances are far below their standard and there is more than one question to be asked about this."