Official reason ref awarded farcical pen to Club Brugge after Mings blunder – but Arsenal got away with same error

TYRONE MINGS gave away an unbelievable penalty in Aston Villa’s Champions League clash with Club Brugge tonight.

The Villa centre-back was punished for a lapse in concentration that saw him reach down and pick up the ball in his own box.

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Tyrone Mings made a calamitous error to give away a penalty for Aston Villa against Club Brugge[/caption]

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Emi Martinez played the ball out to Mings from a goal kick[/caption]

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Mings thought that his keeper was giving it to him to take and leant down and picked the ball up[/caption]

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The referee was forced to award a penalty despite Unai Emery’s efforts to explain the honest mistake[/caption]

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Hans Vanaken dispatched the spot-kick to put Club Brugge 1-0 up[/caption]

Mings, 31, had the ball passed to him inside the area by goalkeeper Emi Martinez at a goal kick.

But the former England defender thought that Martinez was kicking him the ball for him to take the restart, prompting a VAR check for handball.

The referee had no choice but to award the penalty, which was dispatched by Hans Vanaken.

It was a hammer blow to Villa with the goal being the difference between the two teams and the match ending 1-0.

And Mings’ Champions League debut was cut short after his calamitous error.

The towering defender was hooked by manager Unai Emery just over ten minutes later.

To make matters worse, Mings now becomes the first English player in history to give away a penalty on their debut in the competition.

Unbelievably, Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes got away with the exact same error as Mings in last season’s Champions League.

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Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes escaped punishment for doing the same thing in last season’s Champions League[/caption]

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The Gunners’ star leant down to pick up a pass from David Raya against Bayern Munich, but was not called up on his moment of madness despite pleas from the Bayern players.

The decision to punish Mings comes as the ball is already considered as in-play when Martinez plays him the pass – meaning the referee has to give a penalty for handball.

The referee for Arsenal’s clash last season was lambasted by then-Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel for his decision not to strictly follow the rules.

The now-England manager, said: “I think the referee did not have the courage to give a deserved penalty today in a bit of a crazy and awkward situation.

“He admitted on the pitch that he saw the situation and that quarter-final is not enough for him to give a penalty, for a kid’s mistake. He admitted he saw the mistake the player made.

“It was a goal kick, the goalkeeper passed to a central defender and one touched the ball with the hand because he thought it was not in game but it was in game and the referee admitted it was in game and was handball. Very frustrating.”