Club Brugge 1 – 0 Aston Villa

Aston Villa’s perfect Champions League start ended after a bizarre penalty shoot-out saw Club Brugge beat the Premier League side 1-0.

Referee Robias Stieler pointed to the spot after Tyrone Mings, making his debut in the competition, was caught off guard as he got his hands on an Emi Martinez pass inside his own area.

Hans Vanaken stepped up to convert from the spot to end his side’s 14-game winless run against English opposition.

“His mistake is completely strange,” Villa boss Unai Emery said. “It’s the biggest mistake I’ve witnessed in my career.”

The penalty decision followed an underwhelming first half from Villa, who were exposed to an onslaught from the Belgian champions. Brugge had seen an effort from Vanaken pushed onto the post before Martinez reacted quickly to the follow-up to keep the ball out in what was a busy first 45 minutes for the goalkeeper.

Despite Villa dominating the early possession stats, Brugge had dominated the chances, with Unai Emery’s Villans managing just one effort on target before the break compared to five from the home side.

The only chances for Villa before the break came when John McGinn headed over a Boubacar Kamara cross from close range and a wayward strike from the edge of the Bruges area from Ollie Watkins whistled wide.

Emery called for intervention from the bench with Jhon Duran introduced hoping to add to his tally of two vital goals in the competition so far, but the striker failed to make an impact.

Defeat for Villa means Liverpool remain the only team with a 100 per cent record in the competition. Emery’s side have now gone four consecutive games without a win in all competitions and have lost all of their last three.

Is there trouble for Emery’s Villa?

Villa’s defeat to Club Brugge marked the anniversary of Unai Emery’s first game in charge two years ago. His first Villa match saw him comprehensively beat Manchester United in a performance fueled by a ferocious Villapark atmosphere. Villa’s display two years later was far from that.

The crazy penalty decision that led to a nightmare Champions League debut for Mings will dominate the headlines, but Villa were outplayed by Brugge throughout the 90 minutes. There was a predictability to Villa’s display, runs were restrained and the Belgian champions were mostly comfortable.

It is a third loss on the spin for Emery’s side and he risks letting some of the solid foundations he has built over the past 24 months unravel. Villa’s display in their Carabao Cup defeat to Crystal Palace, while disappointing, might have been acceptable had they not turned up at Tottenham and underwhelmed again.

Their first campaign in Europe for over 40 years comes with very few expectations and they defied anyone’s predictions by topping the competition in the first place, but the concern for Emery will be the manner of their recent run of defeats.

Emery: The mistake changed everything

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery speaking to TNT Sports:

“We played a very good first half. We created chances but didn’t score. We conceded a chance from them. The game was more or less under our control. In the second half, the mistake changed everything.

“When they played against them, they were defensively strong and very focused in playing in their idea of ​​stopping us and playing in transition (where) they were better than us. But the key was the first half and the mistakes we made.”

Emery said in his press conference: “His mistake is completely strange. It’s the biggest mistake, I
seen in my career.

“We can make a mistake in the build-up, we work on trying to control games by keeping possession and trying to stop possession and we did that fantastically in the first half.

“We lost one or two balls but we were always able to recover, but this mistake is very, very strange.

“It’s not for Mings or Martinez, it’s a mistake that’s weird. It’s only happened once in my entire life.”

The history of the match in statistics…

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