Video: Fiorentina awarded ‘controversial’ penalty to equalise (1-1) against Club Brugge

Fiorentina put themselves back ahead in their Europa Conference League semi-final tie with Club Brugge on Thursday evening after being awarded a slightly controversial penalty for a foul on M’bala Nzola. 

The former Spezia striker dipped his head to try and make contact with an acrobatic cross into the area from Nico Gonzalez, but appeared to make contact with the knee of Brugge defender Brandon Mechele. 

The question is whether the defender was at fault for having his knee in an unnatural position, whether he had made a genuine attempt to play the ball, or whether Nzola went for the slightly-speculative header subtly looking for a penalty. 

Ultimately, the referee’s decision was to award a penalty, which was then confirmed by the VAR team in the control room. 

Lucas Beltran stepped up to take the spot-kick, slotting it into the bottom corner past former Liverpool goalkeeper and Belgium international Simon Mignolet. 

The match has since reached its conclusion with the scores at 1-1 on the night, which means that Fiorentina will play in a second successive Conference League final.