LEONARDO BONUCCI was branded “shameful” after a theatrical dive during Italy’s victory in Armenia last night.

The 32-year-old defender was blasted by opposition striker Aleksandre Karapetyan after the shocking incident during the Euro 2020 qualifier.

3 Leonardo Bonucci was branded shameful and accused of intentionally getting Armenian striker Aleksandre Karapetyan sent-off last night Credit: Getty Images

And the hotshot, who had opened the scoring for Armenia, blamed the experienced Juventus star for getting him sent off intentionally.

Karapetyan went up for an innocuous looking challenge with the centre-half during first half stoppage time in Yerevan.

But despite their appearing to be zero contact, Bonucci clutched his face as he writhed on the ground, leading to the referee issuing his foe with a second yellow card for a perceived elbow.

'SHAMEFUL'

The scores were level at one-apiece at the time of the unsavoury incident, but Italy would go on to claim a 3-1 win as Andrea Bellotti sealed his double to add to Lorenzo Pellegrini’s strike.

However, Karapetyan, 31, appeared to be in no mood to forgive or forget afterwards.

And he used his Instagram story to share a snap of the aerial duel showing his elbow nowhere near Bonucci’s face.

He captioned the photo with: “I have big respect for what you have achieved in your football life, but that was shameful.”

It’s not the first time Bonucci has been caught out play-acting.

Back in February he did his best to convince the ref to chalk off Jose Gimenez's opener for Atletico against Juve in the Champions League.

The veteran pretended to be injured immediately after the Uruguayan broke the deadlock.

Feeling the slightest of grazes as the 24-year-old brushed past him in the box, the defender collapsed to the ground holding his face.

And as he laid sprawled across the pitch, he peeked through his fingers to see the resulting action as the loose ball fell to the feet of Gimenez - off the side of Bonucci - who duly dispatched past Wojciech Szczesny.

Bonucci then decided to cover his face once again, this time rolling theatrically on the floor in a desperate and embarrassing attempt to con the ref.

Former England boss Fabio Capello was furious over the incident and told Sky Sport Italia: “Bonucci was stroked and immediately threw himself to the ground.

“We’re too used to referees whistling for a foul if you’re touched in Italy.

“Clearly there was nothing in it and the referee immediately told him to get up.”

3 Karapetyan was dismissed after going up for this aerial duel with Bonucci Credit: Getty Images

3 Karapetyan posted this image and message on to his Instagram story after the clash Credit: Instagram / @aleksandre_karapetian