Aston Villa get new Tyrone Mings penalty verdict as Arsenal point made

Former referee Christina Unkel has explained why Tyrone Mings was penalised for a handball, and a penalty was awarded, during Aston Villa's 1-0 defeat to Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday night, while a similar scenario in Arsenal's 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich in the same competition last season had a different outcome.

Unai Emery's side were top of the League Phase table heading into this week's matches, but yesterday's defeat now places them in eighth, and narrowly inside the automatic qualification places. It was a tightly contested game at the Jan Breydel Stadium, but one moment in the second half decided the result.

At 0-0, Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez played a goal kick to Mings in the box, and the defender mistakenly assumed play had not been restarted. He picked up the ball and placed it back on the edge of the six-yard box before passing it back to his goalkeeper.

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Following a quick VAR review, German referee Tobias Stieler pointed to the spot, and awarded the hosts a penalty that was then converted by Hans Vanaken. Villa struggled to force their way back into the game and fell to their first European defeat of the campaign.

Post-match, it was noted that a similar incident occurred during Arsenal's 2-2 draw against Bayern in the quarter-finals of the competition last term. Gabriel picked up the ball and placed it back down in what appeared to be very similar circumstances, but a penalty was not awarded to the Bundesliga side, nor did VAR intervene.

Unkel, a former referee turned analyst, has explained the one big difference between the two situations, and why one was a penalty and the other wasn't.

"Here [in the Villa game], we had a number nine that was approaching as soon as he picked it up with his hands," she told CBS Sports on Wednesday. "There was an attacker pressuring him, and that is going to be the difference.

"Last year, Arsenal vs Bayern, same thing. It's played and he [Gabriel Magalhaes] picks it up. It was not called as a penalty and it was not reviewed by VAR. Here, the difference is you don't have any attackers pressuring in that situation, so let's use football understanding and common sense.

"With Club Brugge, you do have an attacker in the penalty area who is putting pressure. That is the distinction and why this is a clear penalty."

Another big decision pundits pointed out post-match was the fact Mings was already on a booking at the time the incident occurred, having picked up a yellow card in the first half. The referee awarded the penalty, but did not show the Villa defender a second yellow.

"A second yellow card can be issued for a handling offence that is essentially stopping a promising attack, or is a block on a shot at goal," Unkel continued, when asked why Mings was able to avoid a red card. "Here, it doesn't yet rise to that level.

"We don't have that attacker directly on the top of the ball, where he [Mings] would be picking it up and taking it directly off of his foot. It doesn't rise to a yellow card offence alone, it's still in an area where the referee has the ability to manage [the situation] and the expectation here is the penalty is harsh enough of a punishment that we don't need a yellow card on top of it, or a second yellow [in this case]."

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