Roberto Mancini: 'Champions League qualification hopes unrealistic'

Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini has admitted that his side's hopes of Champions League qualification are all but over following their 1-1 draw with Cesena.

The Nerazzurri were held at home by the strugglers on Sunday, leaving them 10 points adrift of third-placed Lazio in the Serie A table.

Mancini has now dismissed his side's chances of a top-three finish as "unrealistic".

"If we'd won we would have closed to within seven points of [fourth-placed] Napoli with 11 games still to play," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. "But now, finishing in third place is now going to be difficult, there's no point in even talking about it. It would be unrealistic."

Inter are back in action on Thursday when they will look to overturn a 3-1 first-leg deficit against Wolfsburg at the San Siro in the last 16 of the Europa League.