Exclusive: Ex-FIFA official reacts to ‘stupid’ Cash incident in Brugge v Aston Villa
Matty Cash found himself in the spotlight as Aston Villa beat Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Unai Emery’s men have one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals after they won 3-1 away in Belgium ahead of the second leg at Villa Park next week.
Leon Bailey’s third-minute goal put the tie in Villa’s control before a surprise equaliser nine minutes later by Maxim De Kuyper.
Brandon Mechele’s own goal in the 82nd minute then finally put Emery’s side back ahead before Marco Asensio converted a penalty won by second-half Villa substitute Cash.
Cash wins controversial penalty late on v Club Brugge
Portuguese referee João Pinheiro pointed to the spot in the final minutes of the first leg to hand Aston Villa a huge chance to go two goals ahead.
Although the win on the night was almost settled, that goal by Asensio could be huge in terms of the overall tie.
Christos Tzolis had possession of the ball in his own penalty area before slightly miscontrolling it, only for it to drop at Cash’s feet.
| Cash’s stats v Club Brugge | |
| Minutes played | 26 |
| Shots attempted (on target) | 1 (0) |
| Passes attempts (successful) | 3 (3) |
| Penalties won | 1 |
| Touches | 10 |
The Poland right-back then quickly took a touch and must have felt a faint knock from Tzolis before going to the ground.
Even though Cash seemed to make the most of the contact, former FIFA-listed referee Keith Hackett believes Pinheiro was correct to point to the spot.
“When you stick out a leg in the way that Tzois did and you make the slightest of contact with your opponent, the referee is going to award a penalty kick,” Hackett told Villa News.
“The referee gave the correct decision.”
Ally McCoist rages at ‘stupid’ incident
After seeing the incident live, former Scotland striker Ally McCoist also backed the referee’s decision that Cash was fouled by Tzolis.
McCoist also believes that Cash’s ability to get into the Brugge box and win a penalty was due to the good in-game manager of Emery, who’d early taken off Axel Disasi for the ex-Nottingham Forest star.
Speaking on TNT Sports 1’s live coverage on 4 March, he said: “What did I tell you about Cash in the forward area?
“Stupid tackle. Stupid tackle.
“That isn’t happening if Disasi’s on the pitch.”