Portugal fury after being given penalty only for VAR to hand Switzerland dodgy spot-kick instead.. from a minute earlier

PORTUGAL were left fuming after seeing their penalty chalked off – and Switzerland awarded one instead.

In a real moment of VAR controversy during the Uefa Nations League semi-final clash, referee Felix Brych decided to announce himself.

He pointed to the spot after Bernardo Silva was felled by Fabian Schar in the area in what was a clumsy challenge.

But the Swiss players including Arsenal star Granit Xhaka implored the referee to chat to his VAR assistants.

And incredibly, it was Switzerland who were given the chance to score from the spot for an incident that happened a minute earlier.

Steven Zuber tumbled to the floor after the faintest of brushes from Nelson Semedo.

But it was adjudged to be a foul, the Portugal one was chalked off, and Ricardo Rodriguez fired home to level the game up at 1-1.

Unsurprisingly the dramatic few minutes led to an outpouring of disbelief on social media.

Aidan Walsh wrote on Twitter that it seemed “so wrong to him” that an obvious Portugal penalty was cancelled for a dubious Swiss one.

Others scoffed as VAR was supposed to “eliminate drama from the sport”.

Archie Lowery wrote that it was “the most ridiculous decision I have ever seen” and that Portugal’s appeal was “stonewall” while Switzerland’s “was never a penalty”.

Marcin Krolak described the referee as “a joke”.

Rodriguez’s effort levelled the game at 1-1 after Cristiano Ronaldo had scored a superb free-kick in the first half.