WITHOUT SOUNDING bitter or petty, but motivated by a burning sense of injustice, Alex McLeish last night claimed Scotland had been knocked out of Euro 2008 by a refereeing decision which proved that big decisions go in favour of big countries.

Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez gave a free-kick in Italy's favour when Giorgio Chiellini barged into Alan Hutton. The set-piece led to Christian Panucci's injury time winner in the 2-1 win which sent the world champions to the Euro 2008 finals and ended Scotland's extraordinary, epic campaign.

McLeish claimed that was the latest evidence referees give big, 50-50 decisions in favour of major European nations such as Italy against smaller ones like Scotland. "I was very disappointed with the decision, it's a poor decision. I have seen it on television. It's unbelievable," he said.

"The big teams tend to get the decisions, the 50-50s, as we have seen today. We have to be brilliant to overcome that. We weren't brilliant today but I thought we were pretty good.

"The assistant referee Juan Carlos Jimenez signalled to the referee to give the free-kick. When his flag pointed towards our goal I was baffled at the time and even since I've seen it again on television.

"You have to be absolutely exceptional to overcome that sometimes. Sometimes you will get a referee who's not fazed by that. Today I felt a lot of 50-50s went against us unfairly. Gonzalez is a top referee. What can you do? Uefa chose him. I thought he did all right but I felt a lot of decisions were unjust."

For McLeish, Scotland gave a proud performance and deserved the lap of honour they took in front of the Hampden crowd. That had not seemed likely when they were caught sleeping when the ball was quickly returned to the field by a ball boy for an Italian throw-in, from which Luca Toni scored in just 72 seconds.

"We were caught cold, it was very unlike us. The multiple ball' system is something we have to be aware of," said McLeish. "It knocked the stuffing out of us. It took us a while to find our feet but we did and gave as good as we got.

"I was really proud of the players for fighting back. I told them before the game that if they had a setback they had shown before they could fight back. They did that again today. In the last 10-15 minutes we had the Italians on the ropes and I really thought we were going to do it.

"When Faddy had his chance my life flashed before me, I thought we were going to Austria and Switzerland."

That was a reference to a terrific chance which, agonisingly, James McFadden failed to convert not long after Barry Ferguson's 65th minute equaliser. "Everything the players did today was justified by the reaction from the fans," added McLeish.

"We live for these kind of games. It's unfortunate now we won't be at Austria and Switzerland but we gave some of the big teams a fright."

For Italy coach Roberto Donadoni qualification was a reprieve. He would have been dismissed after their final qualifier against the Faroes on Wednesday had his side not made it. Instead, he was quietly defiant.

"This Italian team is good enough to go head to head with any team," he said. "There is nothing to be afraid of. I dedicate that win to the people of Italy who were with us in spirit and desire and goodwill."

Donadoni said he felt Scotland were weak on the right side but admitted some "fear" cropped into Italy's play.

"There is the imprint of their manager on this Scotland team. They give their all. For a team to score 24 points as Scotland did is a fantastic achievement," he said.