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Champions League Briefing: Why were Arsenal and Villa penalties given? Can Barcelona contend for crown?

7 November 2024

Fairytales continued in the Champions League group stage on Wednesday night.

Brest and Monaco continued their push at the top of the table, joining Sporting Lisbon — who beat Manchester City on Tuesday night — as one of the unlikely candidates to go straight through to the round of 16 that are currently on course to do so.

Barcelona also continued their fine form, while Paris Saint-Germain find themselves in a difficult position after four matchdays.

There were also two controversial penalties in the games involving English sides on Wednesday night.

These are the big talking points from Wednesday’s action.

Should Mings’ handball have counted?

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

With the game goalless, Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez took a quick goal kick, passing 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 may not have known the ball was in play, but Club Bruges striker Ferran Jutgla had assumed play had begun.

With Jutgla, who was positioned just outside the box when Martinez played the pass, now moving towards the defender, Mings picked up the ball with his left hand and walked back a few steps before placing it back onto the six-yard line and passing to Martinez. Meanwhile, Bruges players protested to referee Tobias Stieler for a handball and a penalty.

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

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

Given the play was live when Mings picked up the ball, the decision to award a penalty might be considered as clear as any for the referee. Still, Villa fans might be slightly aggrieved when remembering a similar incident in Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final clash with Bayern, which did not result in a spot kick.

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

Like Mings, Gabriel picked the ball up with his hands and set it down again inside the six-yard box, seemingly not realising play was now live.

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

However, unlike Steiler, referee Glenn Nyberg swiftly waved away their claims.

According to IFAB’s handball law, there should be no debate; it is a penalty. The ball was live, and Gabriel “deliberately touched the ball with his hand” inside the box. If football were a sport 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.

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

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

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

Unlike Mings, who has Jutgla descending on him, Gabriel is under no pressure from Musiala or Kane, who are both positioned outside the 18-yard box, and the Brazil international has 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 match finished 2-2, with Leandro Trossard equalising around 10 minutes later for Arsenal. Villa were not to be so fortunate, losing their first game of the Champions League season after a stellar 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 win their first four games of the Champions League.

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

“It’s completely strange. It is the biggest mistake we’ve made in my career as a coach. If we make a mistake in our build-up, I can accept it. In the first half, we did it fantastic.”

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

Addional reporting: Jacob Tanswell

Why were Inter awarded a penalty?

If Arsenal were let off regarding a contentious handball decision last season, perhaps Istvan Kovacs’ decision to award Inter Milan a penalty in the first half was football’s way of evening itself out.

Hakan Calhanoglu delivered a free kick from deep in the left channel directed towards striker Mehdi Taremi in the Arsenal box. Taremi met the ball with his right boot, intending to flick it into the direction of striker partner Lautaro Martinez, who had peeled away behind the Arsenal defensive line.

However, Taremi’s flick-on hit the raised arm of Mikel Merino, who was positioned just behind the striker as he jostled to win the initial contact. Despite the midfielder, who joined Arsenal from Real Sociedad this summer after winning Euro 2024 with Spain, standing in such close proximity to the attacker when the ball hit his arm, the referee immediately signalled for a penalty.

As of the 2021-22 season, proximity is accounted for in the Premier League’s handball laws. This means, on these such occasions, referees can consider whether the player had the time and opportunity to move their arm away before the ball hit it. In UEFA competitions, referees are not asked to consider proximity when making handball decisions.

“You get that penalty in the Champions League,” said Darren Fletcher, commentator on TNT Sports, the United Kingdom’s Champions League broadcaster. “You don’t get it in the Premier League any more, but you get it in this competition.”

It proved the difference as Inter carried on their strong Champions League campaign, winning 1-0 against another tournament favourite.

The Brest fairytale continues

Against all odds, Brest keep marching towards the knockout stages.

In their debut European campaign, Brest, who only won promotion to Ligue 1 in 2019, have recorded a remarkable 10 points from their opening four matches.

They began their Champions League odyssey with a 2-1 win over similarly unfavoured Sturm Graz before convincingly dispatching Red Bull Salzburg, also of Austria, 4-0 on October 1. In their last match, they recorded arguably their most impressive result of their campaign so far, drawing 1-1 with German champions Bayer Leverkusen, before collecting another three points against Sparta Prague with a 2-1 win on Wednesday night.

Brest took the lead in the 36th minute, after midfielder Edimilson Fernandes swept home on the volley from a corner and never looked like giving up their advantage from there. With 11 minutes remaining of regular time, Brest capitalised on Prague’s mistakes in the build-up to create an opportunity close to their goal, which was inadvertently turned into his own net by defender Kaan Kairinen after being pressured by Fernandes. Prague scored a late consolation goal through Victor Olatunji, but it was not enough to change the result.

Brest celebrate after their win (Michal Cizek/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite playing away at Prague’s epet ARENA, Brest dominated the match, reducing the Czech champions to just six shots and an xG of 0.52. In comparison, Brest fired 18 shots at Prague goalkeeper Peter Vindahl Jensen’s goal, recording an xG of 1.49. Given that they were projected to struggle, their results and performances are all the more spectacular.

According to The Athletic’s Champions League projections, which are powered by Opta data, Brest were predicted to tally just eight points in this season’s revamped league phase — a total they have already surpassed. Their form in Ligue 1 has taken a hit (they currently sit 11th in France’s 18-team top tier), but fans will surely trade domestic success for a dream run into the knockout stage of Europe’s premier club competition.

Monaco are also enjoying an excellent Champions League campaign, currently sitting fourth after a 1-0 win over Bologna.

Could Barcelona be contenders?

After a period away from football’s top table, Barcelona are firmly among the best teams in Europe once again.

They are one of the continent’s biggest and most recognisable clubs, but their performance in the Champions League since reaching the semi-final in 2018-19 — where they fell to one of the tournament’s greatest second-leg comebacks against Liverpool at Anfield — has been consistently disappointing.

Barcelona showed fleeting signs of returning to their former selves last season, but their performances this year suggest they are among the favourites to add a sixth Champions League trophy to their Camp Nou cabinet.

Raphinha and Barcelona celebrate during their win (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

Inigo Martinez gave Barcelona the lead inside 13 minutes but they were pegged back to 1-1 in the 27th minute. But the visitors then went about their business confidently against Red Star Belgrade in Serbia. Robert Lewandowski, who is enjoying an excellent start to the season, put Barcelona back ahead minutes before the half-time break before doubling their advantage on the 53rd minute.

Two minutes later, Raphinha made it 4-1 and with 15 minutes of regular time remaining, Ferran Lopez added a fifth. Red Star Belgrade found a consolation goal in the 84th minute through Angola winger Milson, but the La Liga leaders were home and dry by that point.

Barcelona have now scored four or more goals in five of their last seven matches in all competitions, including in wins against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Sevilla. With a promising core of young players emerging, led by Kopa Trophy winner Lamine Yamal, this season could be the start of a dynastic era under Hansi Flick.

Is this going to be a campaign to forget for PSG?

If Brest and Monaco are having Champions League campaigns to remember, their French counterparts PSG are having one to forget.

PSG beat Girona in the opening game. But they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in matchday two and limped to a disappointing 1-1 draw with PSV in October, PSG coach Luis Enrique was looking for a first win in three to restart their Champions League campaign against Atletico Madrid.

The evening started positively for PSG, with youngster Warren Zaire-Emery setting the French champions on course for a win with a 14th-minute opener. However, their lead lasted just four minutes after right-back Nahuel Molina equalised for Atletico.

With the scores level and PSG on top, a goal looked more likely for the home side who were pushing to find a winner in the game’s final minutes. But, against the run of play, Atletico hit the Parisiens in transition in the third minute of second-half added time and Angel Correa scored with a left-footed shot after Antoine Griezmann had played him into a goalscoring position with a lofted pass.

Questions will be asked of Gianluigi Donnarumma, with Correa’s shot sneaking under the Italian goalkeeper’s hand. Still, PSG can’t afford to blame individuals — they are a club and team in need of a collective boost if they are to escape the league’s elimination zone and reach the knockout stage.