UEFA have charged Gianluigi Buffon over his conduct towards referee Michael Oliver during Juventus’ Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid.
After losing 3-0 to Real at home in the first tie, the Bianconeri muscled their way back to parity at Bernabeu only to see their dreams dashed by a soft 93rd-minute penalty call.
Buffon was shown a straight red card for remonstrating with Oliver after the decision was made, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo to spank the ensuing spot-kick past his replacement, Wojciech Szczesny, and send Los Blancos through.
The 40-year-old goalkeeper was still absolutely fuming after the final whistle, wherein he embarked on his now infamous rant about Oliver and the strength of his convictions:
It was a tenth of a penalty. I know the referee saw what he saw, but it was certainly a dubious incident. Not clear-cut. You cannot award that at this point.
The team gave its all, but a human being cannot destroy dreams like that at the end of an extraordinary comeback in a dubious situation.
Clearly you [Oliver] 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.
Utterly sensational.
Now, a mere 30 days on down the line, UEFA have administered their ruling, charging Buffon with misconduct.
The case will now be heart on 31st May, just 50 short days after the original incident.