Buffon blows his top after penalty call

MADRID: Gianluigi Buffon’s Champions League quest ended with a display of wildeyed fury, a red card and bitter recriminations after seeing his Juventus side knocked out in the quarterfinals by Real Madrid yesterday.

Italy’s great goalkeeper was left incandescent by referee Michael Oliver’s decision to award Real a debatable but decisive stoppagetime penalty at the Bernabeu in Juve’s 31 win that was to secure Real a 43 aggregate victory in the quarterfinal tie.

In the saddest, ugliest moment of the 40yearold’s peerless career, he rounded on the English official, jostling him and screaming in his face until an alarmed Oliver, also being hounded by other Juve players, showed him a red card.

The episode left Buffon criticising Oliver bitterly afterwards, saying he had been out of his depth and should have been in the stands eating crisps.

‘‘It was a 10th of a penalty . . . a human being cannot destroy dreams like that at the end of an extraordinary comeback on a dubious situation,’’ he told Mediaset Premium.

‘‘Clearly you cannot have a heart in your chest, but a garbage bin.

‘‘On top of that, if you don’t have the character to walk on a pitch like this in a stadium like this, you can sit in the stands with your wife, your kids, drinking your Sprite and eating crisps.

‘‘You cannot ruin the dreams of a team. I could’ve told the referee anything at that moment, but he had to understand the degree of the disaster he was creating.

‘‘If you can’t handle the pressure and have the courage to make a decision, then you should just sit in the stands and eat your crisps.’’

In injury time, with extratime just 30 seconds away, Lucas Vazquez tumbled under the challenge of Mehdi Benatia and it looked a soft award of a penalty.

Buffon had to be restrained by his teammates before reluctantly leaving the pitch.

The protests, which lasted several minutes, made little sense to Ronaldo, who waited patiently for his chance to wrap up the tie.

‘‘I don’t understand why they are protesting,’’ he said in quotes published by Marca.

‘‘Lucas was tackled from behind and if they don’t give him the penalty, it’s a goal.

‘‘The pulse increased, but I calmed down, and I knew I’d be decisive.’’ — BPA

Clearly you cannot have a heart in your chest, but a garbage bin