Pioli said the commotion between the players happened as they made their way from the field, and Mike Maignan made claims he was racially abused by some Cagliari fans.

"Mike told me there was racist abuse from behind the goal," Pioli responded when asked about the scenes at full-time.

"It's always sad when these things happen, nobody deserves that."

The Rossoneri dominated for large parts on Sunday (AEDT), but a lack of clinical finishing left them frustrated until just before the hour.

Ismael Bennacer stepped up with an exquisite volley into the bottom-left corner to edge Milan past Walter Mazzarri's side, which spurned two great opportunities through Joao Pedro and Keita Balde in response.

Victory meant Milan restored its three-point lead over Napoli, which defeated Udinese 2-1 earlier on Sunday (AEDT), and it is six ahead of defending champion Inter Milan, which has played a game fewer, after it was held by Fiorentina.

Juventus could cut the gap on the leader to seven when it hosts Salernitana on Monday (AEDT), and Pioli believes the Scudetto race is far from over with eight games remaining for his side.

"Every game is an important crossroads now. I liked the team, even when we didn't score in the first half, as we played with quality and intensity," Pioli said.

"Cagliari caused us problems, but that's inevitable when you have two teams with such strong motivation."

Milan's triumph was its third straight win by a 1-0 scoreline and, while delighted with the result, Pioli would look to see his team be more ruthless in front of goal.

"We would like to score more and went close again several times today, but the important thing is to win," he added.

"We're doing great things, but we also know there are four sides that could still win the Scudetto. There's no point looking too far ahead, there's a long way to go and we need to concentrate only on our own path."