Juve lost 1-0 at home to Sampdoria on Wednesday, while Milan ended their two-game losing streak with an emphatic 4-1 victory at Messina, where Hernan Crespo and Jon Dahl Tomasson both scored twice for the reigning champions. Milan could even afford the luxury of a missed penalty by Andrea Pirlo.

"Five points is still a lot to make up, but it has given us some hope and this championship is full of surprises," Ancelotti said.

"Beating Messina was very important as it ended a negative run of results. Those two defeats hurt us and rocked our confidence.

"But we went out there today with the right attitude and dominated the match, apart from a brief spell when Messina scored to make it 2-1."

Juventus coach Fabio Capello defended his team's sluggish performance in chilly Turin, saying the fact Sampdoria keeper was voted man-of-the-match spoke volumes.

"Francesco Antonioli was the best player on the pitch," he said. "We played well, but didn't get the result we deserved."

Aimo Diana's close range strike in the 33rd minute condemned Juventus to their first home defeat of the season and gave the visitors their sixth away victory, which lifted them to fifth place.

Marcello Castellini's powerful header from Cristian Zenoni's cross came back off the crossbar and Diana was first to the rebound, reacting quickest to stab the ball past Gianluigi Buffon.

Juventus bombarded the Sampdoria goal in a one-sided second half, but the steely Genoans held out, thanks largely to Antonioli's quick reflexes.

In other matches, Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins grabbed the only goal as Inter Milan edged bottom club Atalanta to hold onto third place, while Udinese beat Chievo 3-0 and remain fourth.

Juventus have 50 points from their 22 matches played, five more than AC Milan and 12 more than Inter Milan.

Roma fell one place to sixth after being held to a 1-1 draw at Lecce, while Palermo climed to seventh thanks to a 2-1 win Fiorentina.

Elsewhere, Lazio drew 0-0 at home to Brescia, Livorno drew 1-1 at home to Reggina and Cagliari came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Siena. Bologna play at home to struggling Parma on Thursday.