Buffon apoplectic with rage at ref Oliver

Turin – Gianluigi Buffon’s Champions League career ended on a bitter note on a crazy night with the Juventus legend sent off in Madrid and then accusing the referee of having “a rubbish bin instead of a heart”.

The veteran goalkeeper’s frustration spilled over at the Santiago Bernabeu after Juventus beat Real Madrid 3-1 on the night, but were eliminated 4-3 on aggregate in the quarterfinal after English referee Michael Oliver awarded the Spaniards a hotly-contested 97th-minute penalty.

“In place of a heart he has a rubbish bin,” raged 40-year-old Buffon (right) after Oliver pointed to the spot for Mehdi Benatia’s challenge on Lucas Vazquez in the dying minutes.

Buffon (right) was given his first red card in 117 Champions League games and after Wojciech Szczesny had taken his place in the Juventus goal, Cristiano Ronaldo hammered home the penalty to put defending champions Real Madrid through to the semifinals yet again.

“You have to be a murderer to make the last two decisions the referee made,” Buffon, the Juve captain, said later.

It was another blow for the charismatic 2006 World Cup winner who was reduced to tears after Italy dramatically failed to qualify for the global showpiece in November’s play-offs.

Juventus have finished runners-up twice in the Champions League in the past three years and Wednesday’s defeat was probably Buffon’s last chance to continue his bid for the only major title missing from his collection.

“I’m not here to judge what the referee saw, because it was a borderline incident,” he said, continuing his diatribe.

“All I’ll say is that you can’t be that cynical in the 93rd minute, to shatter the dreams of a team that had given everything it had to give.”

Juventus president Andrea Agnelli said he could understand Buffon’s fury and called for the introduction of the use of VAR in the Champions League – it is already used in the Serie A in Italy.

“The referee did not understand anything, and tonight the least happy person of all should be him,” said Agnelli.

Benatia, whose challenge led to the penalty, said: “It’s unbelievable that our captain isn’t allowed to speak to the referee – the red card was very harsh.”