GRAZIANO Pelle is aiming for the Champions League - although he doesn't intend to take any shortcuts.

He also says strikers have to be strong and protect themselves - so he has sympathy for controversial Chelsea forward Diego Costa over the current furore surrounding him.

With Saints sitting fourth in the Premier League ahead of today's match with Swansea - where a win would see them jump back into third - Pelle and his team mates are on target for European football.

But unlike other strikers, Pelle is not considering a move to the sorts of clubs that get into the European elite every season due to the huge amounts of cash they spend.

He said: "I would like to be in the Champions League next year - with Southampton not Man City," following Wilifred Bony's £28m move from today's opponents to the reigning champions.

Pelle insists that the tough physical nature of the Premier League means the Spanish target man's tactics are necessary to protect himself in the hustle and bustle of the English top flight.

The Chelsea forward is currently serving a three match ban for a stamp on Liverpool's Emre Can in midweek.

The Saints striker said: "He plays in a dirty way, but this is the way how he plays. He is a good player.

"When I was playing in Feyenoord Joris Mathijsen said 'Costa is a good player but he is an assassin. You are not'.

"But every game here I go off the field with my ankle bruised. England is like this. If you don't give back you will receive 100 per cent [bad treatment].

"I don't like it if you elbow someone, whether it is a striker or a defender. But you don't see the defender criticised.

"In every game I get pushed. I don't have to say to the referee 'Oh I get pushed'. I know that I have to protect myself and be strong.

"It doesn't mean that you have to use the elbow. I don't like it when anyone does something to injure a player. You must be hard but he (Costa) did something wrong in the situations that I saw.

"Until something happens that is serious - and nobody got injured in the end - it's okay. But it is important that you shouldn't do something bad to somebody and destroy his career.

"But it could happen to you. You never know when somebody will step on your feet. When somebody steps on Costa he doesn't say a lot. He gets his own back. I like that.

"In Italy I was lucky on the field. I don't know if they were afraid of me.

"The worst incident was in training with a keeper from my own team. I was young. I chipped him and turned around and was happy with myself.

"After a few seconds I got a kick in my back. My coach looked at me directly and said 'Graziano shut up'.

"You realise this is part of the game. You grow up with these things."