BRUGGE, Belgium (AP) – Aston Villa gave away an unusual penalty for handball in its Champions League game against Club Brugge on Wednesday when defender Tyrone Mings picked the ball up after receiving a short goal kick from goalkeeper Emi Martínez early in the second half
Mings apparently thought the ball was not yet in play and walked forward to pick it up with his left hand and returned it to place it at the corner of the six-yard box.
Brugge captain Hans Vanaken converted the penalty in the 52nd minute to give Brugge a 1-0 lead, placing the ball to Martínez’s left as the goalkeeper dived to his right.
Villa won its first three games to be the surprise leader in the 36-team standings on its return to the competition after a 41-year gap.
In a similar incident last year in the Champions League quarterfinals, Bayern Munich was not given a penalty kick when Arsenal defender Gabriel was not punished for picking up a short pass from goalkeeper David Raya.
Bayern’s then-coach Thomas Tuchel later criticized the referee who had said he would not award a penalty for a “kid’s mistake.”
It took a VAR intervention to give Club what was a clear penalty. Captain Hans Vanaken stepped up to give Club a deserved win on the night. In truth, Club have been excellent in most of their matches in the competition so far. They were unlucky to lose both to Dortmund and to AC Milan, while they should have won by more against Sturm Graz. The home side created more chances and had seven shots on target the Aston Villa’s one. Unai Emery’s men had more of the ball, but failed to create too many clear cut chances.
Mings was already on a yellow card after being booked in the first period, but wasn’t sent off for picking the ball up by mistake. He was one of five changes Emery made to the side which lost 4-1 to Tottenham last time out, as Diego Carlos, Ian Maatsen, Boubacar Kamara and Leon Bailey also came into the starting XI.
After Ollie Watkins narrowly missed the target in the first half from a strike on the edge of the box, Brugge missed the best chance of the first period as Martinez made a brilliant save to deny Ferran Jugtla inside the box.
The Villa ‘keeper pushed his strike off the post, before bouncing back up top deny Christos Tzolis. The hosts ended the first half the better of the two sides and managed to stifle Villa until being gifted a chance to take the lead in the 52nd minute.
Referee Tobias Stieler stopped the game after Mings picked the ball up in the box when it was in play and then awarded a spot-kick. Vanaken went down the middle to beat Martinez.
Villa return to Premier League duties on Saturday when they face Liverpool at Anfield (8pm kick-off).
Leave a Reply