There was hardly a murmur as Emiliano Martínez took a short goal-kick five minutes into the second half and then, a few seconds later, huge cheers from those decked out in Club Brugge blue and black as the ramifications of Tyrone Mings’s brain freeze, a memorable and regrettable faux pas, dawned on them. The Villa defender mistakenly assumed Martínez had not restarted play and so scooped the ball up with his left hand, placed it on the edge of the six-yard box and proceeded to sidefoot the ball back to his goalkeeper.
Only the officials, Brugge’s players and most of the stadium were convinced the ball was in play. The German referee, Tobias Stieler, after a brief VAR review, penalised Mings, who had been booked in the first half, by awarding a penalty, but stopped short of reaching for a second yellow.
