ASTON VILLA paid the harshest penalty possible after conceding the craziest goal in their 150-year-history to wreck their 100% Champions League record.
Unfortunately Tyrone Mings will never forget his Champions League debut – for all the wrong reasons – after producing one of the biggest gaffes ever seen at this level.
There seemed little to get excited about when Emi Martinez rolled the ball to his big defender at a goal kick.
Until Mings reached down with his left hand, stopped the ball and proceeded to place it at the edge of his six yard box in a moment of madness!
Suddenly all hell broke loose as Brugge’s clued-up players screamed foul and German ref Tobias Stieler agreed and pointed to the spot.
Mings was stunned and protested his innocence along with Martinez.
But his defence was flimsy because he really should have been aware that Martinez had passed the ball rather than rolled it to him!
Hans Vanaken kept his cool to send Villa’s spot-kick-king the wrong way from the resultant penalty and shell-shocked Villa never recovered.
Unai Emery has taken charge of 190 European ties but he can never have lost one in such bizarre circumstances.
It brought back memories of Gabriel’s let-off for Arsenal against Bayern Munich last season under similar circumstances.
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On that occasion the Gunner was given a reprieve because the referee claimed it wasn’t in the spirit of the game to award a penalty.
Unfortunately for Mings and Villa, referee Stieler was a stickler for the letter of the law.
So Villa and their stunned supporters were left to nurse a massive hangover in the beer capital of Europe.
Yet Emery had every right to feel confident as he entered Club Brugge’s atmospheric Jan Breydelstadion on the second anniversary of his first match in charge of Villa.
Unbeaten in four previous Champions League ties against Belgian opposition, he had won the last three with an aggregate score of 16-0.
Emery led Valencia to a 7-0 win over Genk in 2011 and followed that up with a 9-0 aggregate win when his Paris Saint Germain team steam-rollered Anderlecht in 2017.
That must have had Bruges goalkeeper Simon Mignolet quaking in his boots as he looked to improve on his own miserable Champions League record.
The former Liverpool No.1 had conceded a goal every 46 minutes – the worst ratio of any keeper to play more than 2,500 minutes in the competition.
Emery even felt confident enough to hand Tyrone Mings a Champions League debut of fire, 15 months after his horror ACL injury at Newcastle.
Unfortunately it backfired on them both so unexpectedly!
It took nine minutes for Villa to threaten when Ollie Watkins collected in space and ran at Brugge’s exposed defence.
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But 20-year-old Ecuadorian Joel Ordonez read the danger brilliantly and expertly dispossessed the England striker.
Youri Tielemans was singled out for treatment by the home support throughout, after starting his career with Brugge’s fierce rivals Anderlecht.
And their jeers turned to ironic cheers when the Belgian international blazed a shot well over from the edge of the penalty area.
Brugge responded with the first shot on target as Maxim De Cuyper tested Emi Martinez following a short free kick.
Then Ordonez just failed to play in striker Ferran Jutgla with a searching through pass which he was inches away from.
Watkins shot inches wide and John McGinn headed well over from seven yards as Villa got back on the front foot.
But Brugge were growing in confidence and Mings turned back the clock with a brilliant goal line clearance to deflect Casper Nielsen’s netbound header which had beaten Martinez.
Ardon Jashari pounced on the rebound but Martinez recovered to save.
However Villa were living dangerously and came within a fraction of falling behind on the half hour.
Ferran Jutgla’s fierce shot from inside the box was brilliantly touched onto the post by Emi Martinez, who then saved Christos Tzolis’s rebound.
Villa made it to half-time intact but despite enjoying more than 60% of possession they have ridden their luck at times with Brugge rattling off five shots on target to the visitors’ one.
But their luck ran out seven minutes after the break when they conceded one of the craziest goals ever – from their own goal kick!
Martinez rolled the ball to Mings who picked the ball up and placed it in the corner of the six yard box to presumably take it himself.
But credit the razor-sharp Brugge players who spotted an opportunity and frantically claimed for a penalty for handball.
German referee Stieler agreed that Mings should have known the ball was in play and penalised Villa’s comeback man who couldn’t believe his misfortune.
Hans Vanaken beat Martinez from the spot and Brugge were ahead in the most bizarre circumstances.
Unai Emery received a lecture from Stieler for his protests and then played his joker as he sent on super sub Jhon Duran for McGinn.
But Brugge were in control and Andreas Skov Olsen fired over as Villa continued to reel from the shock loss of THAT goal!
Then sub Bjorn Meier squandered a golden opportunity to put the tie beyond Villa as he shot wide from close range with the goal at his mercy.
In truth Villa surrendered with a whimper as they failed to recover from Mings’ moment of madness!
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