ELLIOT ANDERSON was sent off in the 95th minute as Nottingham Forest suffered a farcical defeat in Braga.
Anderson could be seen shouting and gesturing at the Croatian referee, who immediately turned around and produced a straight red card.
The England star only came onto the pitch with 21 minutes of the game remaining, after Sean Dyche named a weakened side.
The man he replaced, Chelsea target Douglas Luiz, was booed off by the thousands of travelling Forest fans after an abject display.
On a night where everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, Sean Dyche’s side looked powder puff up front.
They were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead as they were awarded a penalty, but Morgan Gibbs-White squandered it, with Braga goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek saving low to his left.
A minute later, the hosts took the lead through a comical own goal, with Ryan Yates turning a soft Braga cross into his own net.
That would prove to be the only goal of the game, despite the Portuguese hosts failing to manage a single shot on target.
Anderson’s straight red then capped things off, with the Forest players surrounding the referee in complete bewilderment afterwards.
Straight red cards for all but the most extreme forms of dissent have become extremely rare in English football.
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But according to the IFAB rules, referees can choose to send players off for “using offensive, insulting or abusive words and/or actions.
The decision of referee Igor Pajac means Anderson will miss Forest’s final Europa League league phase clash at home to Ferencvaros.
Dyche’s side still retain an outside chance of making the top eight and bypassing the play-off round, but must win against the Hungarians and hope other results go their way.
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