Spurs' Cristian Romero produces shocking tackle vs AC Milan - and then screams at ref | OneFootball

Cristian Romero picked up quite possibly the most blatant yellow card ever during AC Milan vs Tottenham - and then had the audacity to scream in the referee's face.

Tottenham fell to a 1-0 defeat at the San Siro in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash.

Brahim Diaz scored the only goal of the game after just seven minutes as he bundled home from close range.

A midfield crisis for Tottenham saw them start with Oliver Skipp and Pape Sarr in the centre due to Rodrigo Bentancur's long-term injury and the suspension of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

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And the pair fought well as Spurs showed decent character just days after their 4-1 hammering against Leicester on Saturday.

Having Christian Romero back in defence certainly helped.

The Argentine missed the embarrassing loss to Leicester but returned for the Champions League clash.

And while he helped shore up Tottenham's defence, he was guilty of picking up one of the most blatant yellow cards you'll ever see.

Just minutes into the second half, Romeo smashed into Sandro Tonali for a horribly late tackle. It stopped AC Milan's dangerous attack and some may believe Romero should actually have been sent off.

But not Romero.

He had the audacity to scream in the face of Swiss referee, Sandro Scharer.

What on earth was he complaining about? Not getting a red card?

Former ref: Romero should have been sent off

After the match Graziano Cesari, a former referee, suggested Scharer should have sent Romero off.

“He didn’t convince me," Cesari said. "In the second half, he changed his way of refereeing. When the game heated up, he had huge problems. I didn’t like the yellow card for Romero at all, the booking was too lenient. The leg was high, for me it was a red card.”

Conte: Spurs fans will help us in second leg

As for Antonio Conte and Tottenham, he called on his supporters to help overturn the one goal deficit in the return leg on March 8.

For now, Tottenham's attention will turn to attempting to get into the Premier League's top four.

They face a huge end to February with a match against West Ham on Sunday before hosting Chelsea on February 26.

"I know the San Siro and I know the difficulty to play with this atmosphere," said Conte afterwards. "In the second game, we have to play at our stadium and our fans will create the atmosphere to help us overcome the Milan obstacle."