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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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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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.”

ASTON VILLA paid the harshest penalty possible after conceding the craziest goal in their 150-year-history to wreck their 100% Champions League record.

Unfortunately Tyrone Mings will never forget his Champions League debut – for all the wrong reasons – after producing one of the biggest gaffes ever seen at this level.

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There seemed little to get excited about when Emi Martinez rolled the ball to his big defender at a goal kick.

Until Mings reached down with his left hand, stopped the ball and proceeded to place it at the edge of his six yard box in a moment of madness!

Suddenly all hell broke loose as Brugge’s clued-up players screamed foul and German ref Tobias Stieler agreed and pointed to the spot.

Mings was stunned and protested his innocence along with Martinez.

But his defence was flimsy because he really should have been aware that Martinez had passed the ball rather than rolled it to him!

Hans Vanaken kept his cool to send Villa’s spot-kick-king the wrong way from the resultant penalty and shell-shocked Villa never recovered.

Unai Emery has taken charge of 190 European ties but he can never have lost one in such bizarre circumstances.

It brought back memories of Gabriel’s let-off for Arsenal against Bayern Munich last season under similar circumstances.

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On that occasion the Gunner was given a reprieve because the referee claimed it wasn’t in the spirit of the game to award a penalty.

Unfortunately for Mings and Villa, referee Stieler was a stickler for the letter of the law.

So Villa and their stunned supporters were left to nurse a massive hangover in the beer capital of Europe.

Yet Emery had every right to feel confident as he entered Club Brugge’s atmospheric Jan Breydelstadion on the second anniversary of his first match in charge of Villa.

Unbeaten in four previous Champions League ties against Belgian opposition, he had won the last three with an aggregate score of 16-0.

Emery led Valencia to a 7-0 win over Genk in 2011 and followed that up with a 9-0 aggregate win when his Paris Saint Germain team steam-rollered Anderlecht in 2017.

That must have had Bruges goalkeeper Simon Mignolet quaking in his boots as he looked to improve on his own miserable Champions League record.

The former Liverpool No.1 had conceded a goal every 46 minutes – the worst ratio of any keeper to play more than 2,500 minutes in the competition.

Emery even felt confident enough to hand Tyrone Mings a Champions League debut of fire, 15 months after his horror ACL injury at Newcastle.

Unfortunately it backfired on them both so unexpectedly!

It took nine minutes for Villa to threaten when Ollie Watkins collected in space and ran at Brugge’s exposed defence.

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But 20-year-old Ecuadorian Joel Ordonez read the danger brilliantly and expertly dispossessed the England striker.

Youri Tielemans was singled out for treatment by the home support throughout, after starting his career with Brugge’s fierce rivals Anderlecht.

And their jeers turned to ironic cheers when the Belgian international blazed a shot well over from the edge of the penalty area.

Brugge responded with the first shot on target as Maxim De Cuyper tested Emi Martinez following a short free kick.

Then Ordonez just failed to play in striker Ferran Jutgla with a searching through pass which he was inches away from.

Watkins shot inches wide and John McGinn headed well over from seven yards as Villa got back on the front foot.

But Brugge were growing in confidence and Mings turned back the clock with a brilliant goal line clearance to deflect Casper Nielsen’s netbound header which had beaten Martinez.

Ardon Jashari pounced on the rebound but Martinez recovered to save.

However Villa were living dangerously and came within a fraction of falling behind on the half hour.

Ferran Jutgla’s fierce shot from inside the box was brilliantly touched onto the post by Emi Martinez, who then saved Christos Tzolis’s rebound.

Villa made it to half-time intact but despite enjoying more than 60% of possession they have ridden their luck at times with Brugge rattling off five shots on target to the visitors’ one.

But their luck ran out seven minutes after the break when they conceded one of the craziest goals ever – from their own goal kick!

Martinez rolled the ball to Mings who picked the ball up and placed it in the corner of the six yard box to presumably take it himself.

But credit the razor-sharp Brugge players who spotted an opportunity and frantically claimed for a penalty for handball.

German referee Stieler agreed that Mings should have known the ball was in play and penalised Villa’s comeback man who couldn’t believe his misfortune.

Hans Vanaken beat Martinez from the spot and Brugge were ahead in the most bizarre circumstances.

Unai Emery received a lecture from Stieler for his protests and then played his joker as he sent on super sub Jhon Duran for McGinn.

But Brugge were in control and Andreas Skov Olsen fired over as Villa continued to reel from the shock loss of THAT goal!

Then sub Bjorn Meier squandered a golden opportunity to put the tie beyond Villa as he shot wide from close range with the goal at his mercy.

In truth Villa surrendered with a whimper as they failed to recover from Mings’ moment of madness!

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HUNGRY John Higgins believes a long-awaited 32nd ranking title is on the horizon after he lived to fight another day at the International Championship.

The four-time world champion forced a decider on a re-spotted black before being hauled off for slow play at 5-5 as he secured his quarter-final spot with a dramatic 6-5 win over Lyu Haotian in Nanjing. 

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Wishaw’s finest turns 50 next year but still has the burning determination that has unquestionably made him an all-time great of the sport.

Higgins has painfully come up short of success in recent years, with his last ranking crown coming at the 2021 Players Championship.

And the Scot, who lost in the British Open final earlier this season, needs to lift the title this week to qualify for next week’s Champion of Champions. 

But he stressed: “I do believe there are titles left in the tank.

“I do think I will be tasting silverware again before I finish. That’s maybe the reason I’m still doing it. 

“You never know what’s around the corner for you. You’ve just got to keep believing, keep putting the work it as much as you can at my age.”

Higgins won the first frame but had to fight back from 3-1 and 5-4 down to send the match to a decider with breaks of 54, 60 and 71.

And after winning the tenth frame on a re-spotted black, Higgins returned in the evening with a cool match-clinching run of 68.  

Meanwhile, Judd trump failed to reach a quarter-final for the first time this year as he was stunned 6-4 by maximum man Xu Si.

World champion Kyren Wilson hit three century breaks to beat Barry Hawkins 6-2. 

Meanwhile, seven-time former world champion Stephen Hendry reckons he could have won a lot more himself – had he ‘reined in’ his attacking instincts.

The 55-year old dominated the game during the 1990s, but ended up going on a SEVEN-YEAR spell without a ranking title between 2005 and 2012.

Hendry said: “Even when me game was on a downward trajectory I still played the same game.

“I still insisted on going for my shots. I would think it was the right shot and kept going for it and kept missing them.

“If I’d have reined it in in the early to mid noughties I could have had success.

“Whether I’d have won a couple of words titles more I don’t know. But I certainly would have been more competitive for longer. 

“The game’s changed. I see people turning down pots that I’d be taking on, but it’s because you get punished if you miss.

“Back when I first started playing that was my game. I was more aggressive than guys likes Si Jiahui.”

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