McCulloch: Ref cost us Finals chance

Scotland midfielder Lee McCulloch castigated Manuel Gonzalez after the Spanish referee awarded a controversial free-kick which led to the 2-1 defeat by Italy at Hampden and ended home hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008.

Luca Toni had given the World Cup winners the lead within two minutes, but when Barry Ferguson equalised after the interval it looked like Scotland could go on and get the winner which would have taken them to the finals in Austria and Switzerland.

But in the 90th minute, Gonzalez adjudged Alan Hutton to have fouled substitute Giorgio Chiellini near the corner flag when it looked like the Scotland right-back had been the victim rather than the offender.

From Andrea Pirlo’s free-kick, Christian Panucci bulleted in a header which shattered the Scots.

McCulloch was in no doubt as to who was to blame for the defeat.

He said: “The referee has done us in the end when he gave them a foul for nothing.

“It is the worst decision I’ve seen, it has cost us the best prize in football, getting to the finals of a championship.

“Their player got a free header which is our fault but the free-kick should never have been given.

“Nobody can get their head round it. The dressing room is gutted.

“The boys are speechless, they don’t know what to say.

“If we had come away with a 1-1 then we would have still had a chance but for the referee to do that was ridiculous.

“There was a foul before that on Gary Naysmith that wasn’t given. You want your referees to be consistent so it is very hard to take.

“The linesman was only five yards away – I think his eyes were painted on.

“We still had a chance with a 1-1 which is a big difference from walking away with your head down.

“The referee gave them an awful lot. He was a Spanish referee which suited their football more than ours and you have seen that with some of the tackles, he was giving them needless fouls.

“I heard they had changed the referee to the Spanish and he gave us no favours.”

With the Scots trailing in the first half, McCulloch had a goal-bound shot charged down by Gianluca Zambrotta which may have brought a penalty.

The ball seemed to strike Zambrotta’s arm and Rangers player McCulloch said: “I thought that was a ’stone-waller’ as well – it was going in.”

McCulloch refused to blame James McFadden for missing a great chance just after Ferguson had equalised from close range.

He said: “James was an inch away from getting us to 2-1 and if that goes in it is a totally different game.

“The ball skidded up and that is not his fault.

“James has been our best player in this tournament. No-one will be pointing any fingers at him, he has been our star.”