Morgan Schneiderlin insists Southampton can still achieve Champions League qualification, despite 2-1 defeat at Stoke

While Ronald Koeman’s men remain on course to qualify for Europe, the 2-1 loss at the Britannia Stadium dealt a huge blow to their hopes of finishing in the top four.

But Schneiderlin, who opened the scoring before Mame Diouf and Charlie Adam won it for Stoke, is refusing to say the dream is dead.

“Last week we played very bad and won the game (2-0 against Hull) and then this week we played on a good level and lost the game,” said the midfielder, in an interview with the club.

Morgan Schneiderlin puts Saints 1-0 up at Stoke

“It’s football, we need to take that and move forward but, of course, when you lose a game in such circumstances, the first goal was very unlucky and when we missed so many opportunities when you reflect back you can be disappointed, especially on what we want to achieve.

“We wanted to achieve the top four and now it’s going to be even more complicated. We’re not going to give up.”

The France international added: “Of course, we want to secure European football for this club, that’s our main target.

“We wanted to give the fans the most prestigious competition, but, if not, we want to give them the Europa League and we will give everything to get back on track next week against a good team.”

Schneiderlin’s goal came from a first-half corner, tapping in unmarked from a yard out after Jose Fonte flicked the ball on at the near post.

The 25-year-old gave much of the credit for it to the coaches.

“My goal personally, we worked on that [on Friday] with me going back post, because teams know I come from the edge of the box and they weren’t really aware of my movement, so fair play to the coaching staff,” he said.

“A great header from Jose and I just made sure to put the ball in the back of the net.

“It’s a good start, the first time we lost after being 1-0 up, so we are disappointed.”