Sports

Buffon hit with UEFA charge after rant at referee

Buffon hit with UEFA charge after rant at referee

By REUTERS

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Champions League Quarter Final Second Leg - Real Madrid vs Juventus - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - April 11, 2018 Juventus' Gianluigi Buffon and team mates remonstrate with referee Michael Oliver after he awarded a penalty to Real Madrid. REUTERS/Paul Hanna/File Photo

LONDON: Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was charged with violating UEFA's code of conduct on Friday for comments he made about referee Michael Oliver following his team's Champions League quarter-final defeat by Real Madrid last month.

The Juve captain was enraged by Oliver's decision to award Real a decisive stoppage-time penalty during the second-leg tie at the Bernabeu and lost control, screaming at and jostling the English referee until he was shown a red card. Forward Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to convert the penalty and send Real through to the semi-finals 4-3 on aggregate. Buffon, 40, criticised Oliver after the match, saying the referee had been out of his depth, should have been in the stands eating crisps and must have had a garbage bin for a heart. UEFA said in a statement on its website https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/disciplinary that Buffon had been charged both for receiving a direct red card and with violating the governing body's 'general principles of conduct'. The case will be dealt with by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body on May 31.