Tyrone Mings suffered a nightmare Champions League debut upon his return to Aston Villa on Wednesday, when he was penalized for awkwardly collecting Emiliano Martínez’s goal kick in his own area.
The crazy penalty, which was converted by Hans Vanaken to give Club Brugge a 1-0 lead in the match, will no doubt go down as one of the strangest, and most chaotic from Aston Villa’s perspective, penalty kicks ever awarded. in Champions. League history.
Five minutes into the second half, Martinez dropped the ball inside his six-yard box before passing it to Mings on his left, who crouched down to pick up the ball and reposition it on the line for the goalkeeper to pick up.
Immediately punished for his lack of concentration, Mings watched in disbelief as referee Tobias Stieler blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot, indicating that the Villa defender had illegally handled the ball inside the area.
Despite protesting because he assumed that Martínez was passing him the ball to restart, the referee and VAR upheld the initial decision.
Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings conceded one of the strangest penalties in history on Wednesday
The defender collected the ball from Emiliano Martínez after his goalkeeper took a goal kick.
Mings had suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Newcastle in August 2023
The former England international will feel very bad given that Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes got away with making exactly the same mistake in the Champions League last season.
After receiving a goal kick pass from David Raya during Arsenal’s clash with Bayern Munich, Gabriel bent down to collect and reposition the ball.
Much to the dismay of the Bayern players, the Brazilian was not penalized and Mikel Arteta praised the referee for using “common sense” after the match.
Mings, who injured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on August 12 last year during a 5-1 defeat against Newcastle, was called up for his Champions League debut as manager Unai Emery rotated his squad.
The former Aston Villa captain, 31, stepped up his recovery last month by playing for the club’s under-21 team.
More to follow.