Ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet shows his true colors after Tyrone Mings error

Former goalkeeper in Champions League game with Club Brugge as "very harsh".

Currently playing for the Belgian outfit, Mignolet witnessed from the other end of the pitch as Mings inadvertently handled the ball following a swift goal-kick from Emiliano Martinez. The defender seemed caught off guard by the active play status when referee Tobias Stieler swiftly awarded the penalty kick.

Brugge captain Hans Vanaken stepped up to slot home the spot-kick, sealing Villa's first loss in this campaign. Reflecting on the incident, Mignolet shared his own approach to avoid similar issues.

"As a goalkeeper I always try to throw the ball to my defender when it happens," he explained. "It is one of those things, you don't know how the referee is going to interpret these kind of situations.

"It's very harsh but I am very lucky I was on the right end of it. You never know what could happen if the ball is outside the six-yard box and the defender touches the ball the goal kick has been taken. I don't know how the rule is precisely decided.

"Sometimes when you rush yourself it goes a little bit quick and part of doing it out of habit you kick the ball to him, then it depends how the referee is going to interpret it. That's why I throw the ball and then it doesn't happen."

On the other side, Villa's Ezri Konsa expressed that the contentious decision effectively spelled the end for the team in that match. "It's just one of those ones. It kills the game," he told TNT Sports. "It's 0-0 and I think if it's a deliberate handball then he needs a second yellow, he's on a yellow already so why not send him off for that then? It killed the game. It's a mistake, it's not a mistake we want to make but nothing we can do, we've got to move on from it."

Villa, now on a three-match losing streak across all competitions, is gearing up for its next Premier League challenge this Saturday against the table-toppers Liverpool.