McLeish rues refereeing decision
Saturday, 17 Nov 2007 20:41
Alex McLeish said he was proud of his team despite Italy loss
Scotland manager Alex McLeish this evening claimed a refereeing decision could have cost his side a place in Euro 2008.
McLeish's team were beaten 2-1 by Italy at Hampden Park, which meant the Italians qualified for the tournament instead of Scotland. But McLeish believed that the free-kick which led Christian Panucci scoring the winner should not have been given.
"It was an unbelievable decision. How can the linesman give it? Hutton is in control of the ball and the guy barged him down, how can that be a free-kick to Italy?" said McLeish.
"It was a terrible decision. Obviously I can't say too much or I will get into trouble, but they got most of the 50/50s and I thought that would happen.
"The Spanish referee and the linesman will surely look at that and cringe, and say they've made the wrong decision."
It was a courageous performance by the Scots to come back from an early Luca Toni goal to almost win the game and qualify for Euro 2008. McLeish was proud of his players, who beat France home and away in a brilliant qualifying campaign.
He said: "I'm proud of these players. The setback at the beginning was so unlike us, we switched off and it gave them a massive lift, and took the power away from us for a spell.
"But we didn't deserve to lose that game. We battered the Italians in the second half and they were dead men walking. I thought, at the end, although they were always dangerous at set-pieces, which led to the second goal," added McLeish.