Sam McQueen says Antonio Candreva should have been sent off for elbowing him

Antonio Candreva of Internazionale is shown a yellow card by referee Pawel Gil

Southampton left-back Sam McQueen believes Italian international Antonio Candreva should have been sent off for elbowing him in the face during Thursday’s 2-1 victory against Inter Milan.

The controversial moment occurred during first-half stoppage time when a handball from Ivan Perisic gifted Southampton a penalty and the chance to equalise after Mauro Icardi had earlier opened the scoring for Inter.

Before the penalty was taken, Inter midfielder Candreva appeared to scuff up the penalty spot before elbowing McQueen in the face after the Saints' youngster challenged his actions.

Polish referee Pawel Gil elected not to send Candreva off for violent conduct, instead issuing him with a yellow card, but McQueen was adamant after the game that the Italian should have seen red.

McQueen clutches his face following the elbow from Inter's Candreva

McQueen said: "I saw him [Candreva] do it. Some players try and do it these day, they try and dig up the penalty spot.

"I thought that was a silly thing to do so I went over to try and stop it and I felt he gave me an elbow in the jaw.

'I'm an honest player. I didn't want to go down even though I did drop to my knees a bit. I'm sure people will laugh at that. I felt there was an elbow so I think we were unlucky they didn't get a red card."

Dusan Tadic subsequently saw his penalty saved but the Saints battled back in the second half and sealed an historic win through goals from Virgil van Dijk and an own-goal from Inter defender Yuto Nagatomo.

The win puts Southampton on the brink of the Europa League's knockout stages with a further victory from their trip to Sparta Prague or home fixture with Hapoel Be'er Sheva certain to guarantee at least a top-two finish.