“It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career.”
Unai Emery said that Tyrone Mings committed “the biggest mistake” he has ever witnessed during his football career.
The Aston Villa manager was referring to Mings’ bizarre error in the team’s 1-0 loss away to Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Mings, making his Champions League debut after 14 months on the sidelines with a serious knee injury, conceded a penalty in the second half of the tie in Belgium.
Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez took a short goal kick and passed the ball to his teammate.
The England defender, 31, did not realise the ball was in play and picked it up, placed it on the six-yard line and passed it back to the goalkeeper.
The referee spotted the handball and awarded a penalty to the home side, which was dispatched by Hans Vanaken.
It was the first goal Villa conceded in the tournament this season, and ended their 100% record in the competition.
Mings was on a yellow card when the incident occurred and he was fortunate not to receive a second booking.
Following the match, Emery was critical of his player, labelling the error as “very, very strange.”
“His mistake is completely strange,” the Villa head coach said.
“It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career.
“We can make a mistake in the build-up, we work to try to 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 only happened one time in all my life.”
Villa are still in a strong position in the Champions League, with nine points from four matches following wins over Young Boys, Bayern Munich, and Bologna.
They face Juventus at Villa Park in their next game in the competition.
