Milan assistant Costa: The objective must always be first place

Matteo Gabbia and a stunning free-kick from Joao Felix in the second half sealed the win, bringing an end to a turbulent season both on and off the pitch.

Milan could drop to eighth in the standings should Fiorentina beat Udinese on Sunday, in what will be their lowest finish in Serie A since the 2014-15 campaign (10th).

But the Rossoneri's win was overshadowed by fan protests against the club's ownership and hierarchy both before and during the match at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

Thousands of supporters gathered earlier on Saturday outside the club's Casa Milan headquarters, asking owner Gerry Cardinale to sell up and leave his position.

The discontent began with the appointment of Paulo Fonseca as manager, with the Portuguese coach winning just 12 of his 24 games in charge across all competitions.

Fonseca was sacked in December and replaced by compatriot Sergio Conceicao, who won his first two games while also lifting the Supercoppa Italiana.

But there was little improvement from then on, with Conceicao set for talks about his future at the club after a disappointing run of results under his stewardship.

"For Milan, the players and the fans, the objective must always be first place," Costa told DAZN.

"We can start talking about the season tomorrow and why we finished in this position, but for tonight we should talk about this game."

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Costa also acknowledged that while Milan ended their season with two home league wins for the first time since October, their performance was far from perfect.

Keita Balde thought he had given Monza an unlikely lead on the stroke of half-time, but his goal was ruled out for offside, with the decision upheld after a VAR review.

Milan ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) of 1.49 from their 21 shots to Monza's 0.34 from their six attempts.

"This is a squad full of many players. They each have their own personalities, so it's like a family, you need to get to know and understand each other," added Costa.

"However, when it comes to tonight's match, the start was sluggish. We did better after the restart with more intensity and are satisfied with the result.