WATCH: Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings concedes bizarre penalty in nightmare Champions League debut
Aston Villa central defender Tyrone Mings conceded one of the most bizarre penalties ever seen in football during their Champions League game against Club Brugge on Wednesday, November 6. It was a Champions League debut to forget for the England defender, who was returning to action from injury.
After having been passed the ball in the 52nd minute by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, Mings felt that the referee had not waved play on. Therefore, he picked the ball up and brought it back to Martinez for him to kick upfield. However, the referee was not amused and directly pointed to the spot, signaling a penalty.
Mings had clearly not realized that the ball was in play, and in all innocence picked it up with his hands to give to Martinez. The referee had, in fact, waved play on before, and Martinez's pass to Mings was seen as a goal kick. The VAR checked for discrepancies, but there were none, and a penalty was given due to handball.
Hans Vanaken stepped up to score from the spot for the home team. After a lot of dogged resistance from both sides, the goal remained the winner, and Villa were handed their first European defeat of this campaign.
You can watch the handball incident here:
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery was not too pleased with the incident, as expected. He told the press (via BBC Sport):
"We played a good first half. The second half the mistake changed everything. The key was the mistake we made. "His mistake is completely strange. It's only happened one time in all my life."
This was Aston Villa's first loss in the Champions League this season
This 0-1 defeat to Brugge on Wednesday was Aston Villa's first loss in the Champions League this season. They have won their other three matches against Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Bologna.
It has to be mentioned that a similar incident happened in the first leg of the quarterfinal between Arsenal and Bayern Munich in the same tournament last season.
Back then, central defender Gabriel had done the same thing Mings did on Wednesday, picking the ball up and handing it to goalkeeper David Raya. However, the referee had not pointed to the spot back then, mentioning that Gabriel was not aware the ball was in play.
Bayern's then-manager Thomas Tuchel had reacted with anger. He also said the referee had told his players he didn't award the penalty since it was "a kid's mistake." Aston Villa, however, were not so fortunate and conceded a penalty that led to their defeat on Wednesday.