Bizarre handball incident ends Aston Villa’s Champions League winning streak

Aston Villa’s perfect winning run in the UEFA Champions League ended on Wednesday as a bizarre penalty incident gifted Club Brugge a 1-0 win, at the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges. Villa manager Unai Emery labelled the incident as the ‘biggest mistake’ he has ever seen in his career.
In the 51st-minute with the score level at 0-0, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez tapped a goal-kick to defender Tyrone Mings. In a bizarre manner, the England defender picked up the ball, placed it back for a goal-kick and passed it back to the goalkeeper.
The Brugge players immediately protested and the referee pointed towards the spot. Brugge captain Hans Vanaken stepped up to take the penalty and drove a low shot past Martinez, into the centre of the net, making it 1-0. The visitors failed to find an equaliser, seeing their unbeaten record end.
Aston Villa had won its first three games without conceding a goal in their first Champions League appearance, since they were the defending champions 41 years ago. Speaking after the match, Emery said, “His mistake is completely strange. It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career.”
“It has only happened one time in all my life. Today,” he added.
Last season in the Champions League, there was a similar incident in the quarterfinals, when Arsenal defender Gabriel went unpunished for picking up a short pass from goalkeeper David Raya against Bayern Munich in the first leg. The referee said that he didn’t want to award a penalty for a ‘kid’s mistake’, which was criticised by then-Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel.
After full-time, Villa goalkeeper Martinez was seen having a discussion with referee Tobias Stieler, trying to convince him that he made a mistake. Villa were leading the 36-team standings before yesterday’s fixture, and have now dropped to eighth position. They face Juventus at home in their next UCL match in three weeks’ time.