A SMUG European Commission boss has been slammed after posting a gloating tweet celebrating the EU after England lost in the World Cup semi-final.

Martin Selmayr posted a series of football and European Union flags just seconds after the Three Lions' devastating extra time defeat to Croatia - an EU member state.

But the 47-year-old German's post was met with harsh criticism from across social media with one England fan writing: "I now know I was wrong to vote Remain."

Another added: "A disgraceful tweet that absolutely epitomises why the UK is leaving the EU."

And @saulBennett78 wrote: "The EU doesn't have a football team mate but there will always be an England."

Tory MP Nadine Dorries posted: "The response from a ‘big’ player in the EU. Charming."

Mr Selmayr, who has been nicknamed 'The Monster' due to his iron grip on Brussels policymaking, is the secretary-General of the European Commission.

That makes him the bloc’s top civil servant which gives him sweeping powers over a range of issues including Brexit.

The Eurocrat was blamed for the Brexit dinner leak last year which plunged relations between Britain and the EU to new depths, and has been frequently criticised for his negative briefings.

He is notorious for his fanatical devotion to the ideology of European unification, and has also become infamous around the Berlaymont - the Commission’s headquarters – for being authoritarian, manipulative and untrustworthy, with few friends in politics.

He is unlikely to have gained any more with his post, with one social media user writing: "A nation united, telling Martin Selmayr to f*** off."

MP Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem leader and committed Europhile, tweeted to Mr Selmayr: "Graceless. I'm pro EU, but sometimes you wazzocks make it hard to be so."

And the journalist Iain Martin called him "Europe's leading idiot", and calling for "hard Brexit now" on the back of it.

Angela Mackay said on Twitter: "This really shows just how petty and nasty Martin Selmayr is!"

lions fall just short
While the prominent MEP and former Ukip leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe replied: "What a shame all that money, all that power and it still didn't buy you any class."

And Mauro Lisanti posted: "You are a sick man Selmayr."

It comes as some fans in the rest of the UK took England's defeat as an opportunity to mock their neighbours.

One Scottish fan tweeted: "A goal for Croatia, a goal for all of Scotland".

Another posted: "But I thought it was coming home?"