Aston Villa bemoaned the controversial penalty decision that condemned them to a first Champions League defeat at Club Brugge on Wednesday. (More Football News)
On their return to Europe's elite club competition, Villa won their first three matches without conceding, but that run was ended in a 1-0 reverse in Belgium.
The decisive goal was highly contentious, however. Tyrone Mings was penalised for picking up a pass from Emiliano Martinez, apparently believing the Villa goa🌟lkeeper had not yet taken a goal-kick.
That error was punished as Hꦿans Vanaken converted the consequent penalty, and Villa 🧸could not recover from a moment that boss Unai Emery felt altered the shape of the game.
"In the second half, the mistake chang𝕴ed everything," Emery said. "A team like [Brugge], they are playing at home, defensively strong, they then focus 100% to stop us. They were better than us."
Mings' defensive colleague Ezri Konsa described h💛is frustration at the incident, suggesting Mings would have been sent off had there been a🍸 genuine infringement.
"It killed the game," Konsa said. "If it is a handbalﷺl, deliberate, then he should get a se𒅌cond yellow.
"He♒'s on a yellow already, so why not send him off for that then? It killed the game.
"But look, it happened, the💎re's no🏅thing we can do, we've just got to move on from it."
Villa have noꦇw lost three consecutive games in all competitions, matching their worst such run under Emery. They face Premier League and Champi🍌ons League leaders Liverpool next at Anfield.
