Tyrone Ming’s ‘very strange’ penalty miss explained – and why he was penalized but Gabriel wasn’t against Bayern

When Tyrone Mings visualized his Champions League debut, he might have seen a clean sheet, a win and maybe even dreamed of a winning goal. But punishing the opposition in an obscure way would not have been on his list.

With the game not goalless, Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez took a quick goal kick that passed sideways to Mings, who was positioned a few yards to the Argentine’s left, just outside the six-yard box.

Mings had not yet looked at the goalkeeper, suggesting he may not have known the ball was in play, but Club Bruges forward Ferran Jutgla had assumed play had begun.

As Jutgla, who was positioned just outside the box when Martinez played the pass, now moved toward the defender, Mings picked up the ball with his left hand and took a few steps back before placing it back on the six-yard line and handing off to Martinez. Meanwhile, Brugge players protested to referee Tobias Stieler for a handball and a penalty.

The German official immediately pointed to the spot and his decision was confirmed by VAR, Benjamin Brand, moments later. Club captain Hans Vanaken sent the penalty and put the Belgian club ahead 1-0.

According to the laws of the game, there is no doubt that this was a penalty. The handball rules used by UEFA state that it is a handball if a player “deliberately touches the ball with the hand/arm, for example moves the hand/arm towards the ball or touches the ball with the hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally large ”.

As the game was live when Mings collected the ball, the decision to award a penalty can be considered as clear as any for the referee. Still, Villa fans may be a little outraged when they recall a similar incident in Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final clash with Bayern, which did not result in a spot-kick.

This incident took place in the 67th minute of the match, with Bayern leading 2-1. After the referee blew his whistle to signal the restart of play from a goal kick, Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya played a short square pass to teammate Gabriel.

Like Mings, Gabriel picked up the ball with his hands and put it back down inside the six-yard box, seemingly unaware that the game was now live.

Immediately after Gabriel handled the ball, Bayern forwards Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala turned to the referee and asked for a penalty, pointing to their arms to indicate a handball.

But unlike Steiler, Judge Glenn Nyberg quickly waved away their claims.

According to the IFAB handball law, there must be no debate; it is a punishment. The ball was live and Gabriel “deliberately touched the ball with his hand” inside the box. If football were a sport that had to be followed by the letter of the law without human interpretation, the referee would have given the penalty without question and there would have been little room for debate afterwards.

But as FIFA match director and rules analyst Christina Unkel told CBS Sports at the time, there is a time and a place where “common sense” should prevail.

“If you argue that this is a penalty, with all due respect, you hate football,” Unkel said. “Here we have to use common sense and (the so-called) Law 18. At no point was any advantage taken from Bayern in this situation and most importantly it was just an honest and legitimate mistake. There was no reason to , that the defender would have picked up the ball and placed it, except for the fact that he never heard the whistle in the first place.”

There is no Law 18 in the IFAB’s Laws of the Game, but the introduction states: “Referees are expected to use common sense and apply the ‘spirit of the game’ when applying the laws of the game.” For that reason, the use of common sense has almost become an unwritten law – that’s why Uncle refers to Law 18. On this occasion, it comes to Arsenal’s rescue.

Unlike Mings, who has Jutgla bearing down on him, Gabriel is not under pressure from Musiala or Kane, who are both positioned outside the 18-yard box, and the Brazil international has the time and space to find a pass. He makes no progression with his return pass to Raya (in fact he returns the ball to the six-yard line and passes square), a pass he could easily have made before handling the ball.

That game ended 2-2, with Leandro Trossard equalizing around 10 minutes later for Arsenal. Villa were not to be so lucky as they lost their first game of the Champions League season after a stunning 100 per cent start to their first campaign in Europe’s premier competition since 1983. If they had beaten Bruges, they would have become the first English club to who win their first four games in the Champions League.

Villa manager Unai Emery appeared to have no qualms with Steiler’s decision. “It’s very, very strange this error,” Emery said after the game. “But that’s football. I don’t know if it was intensity. It was the mistake, because in the first half we played as we planned. The game changed after our mistake.

“It is completely strange. It’s the biggest mistake we’ve made in my coaching career. If we make a mistake in our construction, I can accept that. In the first half we did fantastic.”

For Mings, who had spent 445 days on the sidelines after suffering a serious ACL injury, his debut in club football’s most prestigious competition is one to forget.

Additional reporting: Jacob Tanswell

(Top image: TNT Sports)