Frank De Boer admitted he was grateful to Samir Handanovic for saving his side as the Inter Milan keeper made a string of excellent stops to deny Saints.

The 32-year-old Slovenian made several excellent late saves to prevent Saints from bagging an equaliser, having already been busy earlier in the game.

Ultimately, Saints’ lack of clinical finishing and Handanovic’s good form proved costly as they went down 1-0 in the San Siro.

De Boer said: “Especially after we were down to ten men and they created some very dangerous chances, especially with the head.

“We knew that they were very dangerous but we have to improve on that also of course.

“At first there were small chances for both of us, and maybe we had one in the first half and they had maybe two in the first half.

“The second half we had two chances and they had two chances, but after the red card they were pressing high with long balls and they were dangerous.

“Luckily we have a great goalkeeper and he was unbelievable.

“We knew he was an unbelievable goalkeeper and he showed it again for us, and for that we are happy.

“About that result for the group is very important for us.

“Next week we have to play very disciplined and when we have the ball we need to make better choices. It is just a matter of time.”

Inter’s win provided their first points of the Europa League Group K campaign, and reignited their chances of making the knockout stages.

It will be a vital fixture for both sides when Inter visit St Mary’s in a fortnight.

De Boer feels he has learned plenty of lessons for the return match, and is hoping his side can make further progress when the teams meet again.

“I think Southampton are very dangerous at set pieces, they scored two goals from dead ball situations in their last match,” he reflected.

“We couldn’t afford to give away cheap free kicks because it’s always very difficult against such tall, powerful opposition players.

“I think that it was only a question of when we had the ball we need to play without fear, but we already saw a vast improvement in the second half.

“These are very small details, by pushing further on between the lines but we are making strides and improving on that and played better in the second half, but these details are very important and what I saw was a very disciplined outfit.”