Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish has suggested Uefa corruption may have cost his squad a place in the 2008 European Championships. 

McLeish revealed he received a phone call prior to the nation's cruical final qualifying match against Italy in 2007 warning him that Scotland's victory would not be looked upon favourably by Uefa.

Almost a decade on, the fomer national head coach has revealed his suspicions over a number of decisions made during the match including a stoppage-time free kick awarded by the Spanish referee, Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez during the final seconds, despite Scots defender Alan Hutton being fouled by Giorgio Chiellini.

Italy went on to win the cruical tie. 

In a BBC documentary to air tonight, McLeish, who won 77 caps for Scotland between 1980 and 1993, revealed an Italian journalist claimed Uefa would take steps to ensure both Italy and France would qualify at Scotland's expense. 

He said: “In the midweek before the game, I got a call from an Italian journalist. She said, ‘Do you really think that UEFA will allow France and Italy not to qualify?’.

“I said, ‘Wait a minute. This is a bit controversial. We don’t say things like that in Scotland’.

“She said, ‘Listen Mr McLeish, the whole of Italy is talking about this. If there is a 50-50, the referee will favour the Italians and the French’.”

He added: “It was terrible because I was so convinced about it.

“That’s why the disappointment was absolutely devastating.”

McLeish intially dismissed the call as a conspiracy theory but became suspicious after a series of controversial decisions cost the match at Hampden in November 2007. 

Former Scotland captain James McFadden echoed McLeish's views and said: “I am gutted, absolutely gutted, and it’s the same for all the players. I know you are not supposed to say these things but we were robbed by the referee,” he said.

“It is hard to take. I would not say cheated, but I wouldn’t say the referee helped us. I think he was more for Italy than he was for us.

“There have been some dodgy decisions given against us or not gone our way. It goes to prove that we were not wanted at the big championships.

“People didn’t want us to qualify and they got what they wanted.”

Following investigations into UEFA corruption fraud and money laundering saw 14 Fifa executives and officials arrested in May 2016. 

Uefa strongly denied allegations of a fixed match.

A Uefa spokesperson said: "Mistakes may have been made during the game but decisions did go against each team.

"Mr Mejuto Gonzalez is a highly ranked referee and one of the best in the world."

When challenged about match fixing affecting Scotland's position against Italy, Mr Mejuto Gonzalez said: "I have nothing against Scottish football."

Scotland’s Game will be broadcast tonight on BBC One Scotland at 9pm.