‘Garbage bin of a heart & brain’: Fans lay into Premier League ref over ‘joke’ red card for Switzerland in huge Euro 2020 clash

Man in the middle Michael Oliver has been slammed after brandishing a red card to Switzerland star Remo Freuler during his side's crunch clash with Spain – with furious fans branding his hugely debatable decision "garbage".

Freuler was shown his marching orders by English ref Oliver for a challenge on Gerard Moreno in which he seemingly won the ball but caught the Spanish forward innocuous with his trailing leg, reducing the Swiss to ten men in a crunch match at Krestovsky Stadium.

Freuler left the field to whistles and boos in an apparent voicing of discontent at the decision, which was shared online by fans and journalists alike.

European football expert Carlo Garganese was just one of the masses to express their discontent. “Michael Oliver. Garbage bin of a heart and a garbage bin of a brain," he tweeted.

"Joke of a red card for Freuler which will probably cost Switzerland qualification."

“Switzerland gets a RED CARD – that’s the worst call I’ve ever seen and I’m on Spain," tweeted sports host Alex Monaco, with another going as far as to call it “the cheapest red card in soccer history”.

The reaction was perhaps due to Switzerland winning the hearts of many neutrals for their spirited fightback against world champions France, in which they netted a late equalizer to force extra time and then send the tournament favorites packing in the penalty shootout.

The first 90 minutes ended 1-1 in St Petersburg, and will head into extra time with Switzerland down to ten men.

Spain had taken the lead in the first half when a Denis Zakaria turned the ball into his own net from a Jordi Alba strike before Switzerland equalized on 68 minutes when Freuler squared to Xherdan Shaqiri to sweep the ball home off the post after a defensive mix up.