Celtic's next Champions League opponents pick up second win of campaign after calamitous Aston Villa error
‘It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career’
Club Brugge picked up a morale-boosting Champions League win over Aston Villa ahead of their upcoming trip to Celtic Park thanks to a calamitous error by defender Tyrone Mings.
The centre-back inexplicably picked up a short goal-kick by Emiliano Martinez without knowing referee Tobias Stieler had restarted the game. Brugge captain Hans Vanaken converted the resulting 52nd-minute penalty to earn victory for the Belgian champions and end Villa’s three-game winning start to life in the Champions League.
It was a moment of madness by Mings, making his first start in the competition, but he may feel hard done by as Arsenal defender Gabriel was spared in the exact same circumstances against Bayern Munich in last season’s quarter-final.
On that occasion Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg did not penalise, saying it was a “kid’s mistake” and not in the spirit of the game to award a penalty. Stieler did not have the same outlook and Mings was punished.
Villa boss Unai Emery has said Mings’ gaffe was the biggest mistake he has witnessed in his managerial career. “His mistake is completely strange,” Emery said. “It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career. We can make a mistake in the build up, we work to try and control the games through keeping possession and trying to stop the possession and we did that in the first half fantastic. We lost one or two balls, but we were always in the position to recover, but this mistake is very, very strange. It’s not for Mings or Martinez, it’s one mistake that’s strange. It’s only happened one time in all my life.”
The incident will divert attention from what was a below-par performance by Emery’s men, who have now lost their last three games in all competitions. They were aiming to create Champions League history by becoming the first team to win their first four games in the competition without conceding a goal but they mustered just one shot on target. Despite the blip, they remain in strong position to earn direct qualification for the last 16 at the halfway stage of the new league phase.
Brugge beat English opposition for the first time to boost their own chances of qualifying for the last 16 play-off round. Nicky Hayen’s side, who also defeated Sturm Graz last month, are now on six points, one point behind Celtic, ahead of facing the Scottish champions at Parkhead on November 27 on matchday five. Celtic will also face Villa away in their final league phase fixture on January 29 with a trip to Dinamo Zagreb on December 10 and a home match against Young Boys on January 22 in between.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.