The build-up to Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final was dominated by a scarcely-believable backdrop after Boro accused Saints of sending someone to snoop on training.

Middlesbrough reported Thursday’s incident to the EFL, with the governing body charging Southampton for breaching regulations on the eve of the first leg at the Riverside Stadium.

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Saints were hounded by aggrieved Boro fans throughout an engrossing encounter that somehow ended 0-0, but the events preceding the match dominated the post-match press conference.

Boro boss Hellberg said: “It’s a weird situation. Couldn’t believe my eyes or ears when heard it, couldn’t believe it when someone told me for the second time or the third.

“But if someone makes decisions to go and try to cheat, that’s clear and it will be interesting to see what happens with that.”

Hellberg says it is a “massive advantage” to be able to watch training, pointing to the fact they played in the first half with a shape they had never used before and was “impossible to know” by looking at previous games.

The Boro boss was left feeling angry, disappointed and disrespected by the perpetrators after an incident that had striking similarities to the situation with Leeds in 2019.

Boss Marcelo Bielsa paid a £200,000 fine for sending someone to watch Derby train, with the EFL introducing a new rule preventing teams from watching each other’s training sessions within 72 hours of a match.

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Asked if a heavy fine would be a sufficient punishment for Southampton, Hellberg responded: “Who’ll get the fine? Should they pay the EFL? OK, so they see everything we do…I don’t know.

“We’ll see what happens. I just think it’s weird that they do that and try to cheat in this type of game to be fair.

“Didn’t Bielsa pay 200 (thousand) when it was not the law, right?

“To be fair, I think a lot of clubs will pay that amount to try to get that advantage of seeing the two sessions before a game that is of this magnitude.

“I think a lot of clubs will pay that. But it’s not legal, so they wouldn’t do it.”

Pushed on whether Saints should be kicked out of the play-offs – with Tuesday’s second leg at St Mary’s to come – Hellberg added: “That’s not my decision to make. I’m just telling you what it is.”

Hellberg says he did not speak to Saints counterpart Tonda Eckert and feels the anger should go beyond Teesside.

“You don’t do this,” the Swede said. “It’s rules and you don’t plan to do this and you have disguise and all those things.

“It’s not only us. I think every team in the in the Championship should be angry because who knows? So, yes, wrong. Yes, wrong.”

Asked if there was suspicion Southampton had done it to other clubs earlier in season, Hellberg said: “I’m just thinking about now, that we find them in the bushes. I’ve had a lot of different things to focus on.”