Speaking in the aftermath of his side’s 1-0 loss to Belgian side Club Brugge, Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery has admitted that the handball by Tyrone Mings changed the whole game.
After a difficult first half, Aston Villa grew into the game until a comical moment when Tyrone Mings who was making his debut in the competition picked up the ball after a goal-kick by Emiliano Martinez which resulted in a penalty kick that was dispatched by Hans Vanaken.
“We played very good first half, we created chances to score but didn’t score,” Emery said after the match.“We conceded one chance from them but we were more or less under control, and of course we knew how it was away. But the second half, the mistake changed everything.”
The loss was Aston Villa’s first of the season in the Champions League and it leaves them in the final automatic spot to qualify for the knockout stages with four games left.
“Because one thing like that, when you are playing at home, defensively you are strong. Then you focus, play 100% in the area to stop us and they were better than us [at that]”, he continued.
Speaking in his press conference, Emery added: “His mistake is completely strange. It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career.
“We lost one or two balls, but we were always in the position to recover, but this mistake is very, very strange.”
The penalty kick was the only goal of the game as Villa’s unbeaten streak in Europe this season was ended.
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