Brighton manager Roberto de Zerbi has opened up after his side’s European debut with a defeat to AEK Athens in the Europa League last night.
Roberto de Zerbi congratulated Brighton’s players in the dressing room on their performance, despite losing 3-2 to AEK Athens on their European debut. Despite dominating possession and shaping the game on a wet and difficult pitch at the Amex Stadium , Brighton lost to AEK who took advantage of the little things. They create and are decisive when their moment comes.
The Europa League group stage , Group B (first match), last night (Thursday, September 21, 2023), Brighton had to chase and equalize twice before the Greek club scored the winning goal late in the ufabet https://ufabet999.com game, with AEK Athens scoring a goal . They took the lead in the 11th minute from Djibril Sidebe before Joao Pedro scored a penalty to equalize in the 30th minute, but Miyat Gazinovic scored to give AEK a 2-1 lead. 40 minutes into the second half, Brighton were awarded another penalty kick. And the same Pedro didn’t miss a kill to give the team a 2-2 draw before Ezequiel Ponce scored the winning goal for AEK 6 minutes before the end of time.
“We conceded three goals,” De Zerbi said. “Two from set pieces. And one unbelievable goal, the third goal, we made some mistakes on the pitch (in the third), like Joao Pedro’s chance in the second half or Igor’s chance in the first half. But in terms of playing quality I think we played the game very well.” “I’m really proud of the performance. I think we’re not showing the right experience. Or it might not be the same experience as AEK Athens.” “But for the rest. I think we played with the right identity and attitude. We are in control of the game. We dominated the game. And we are saddened by the result.”
“We are sad because we were unable to make our fans, ourselves and our club happy. But we have to analyze the playing form and the playing form is good.” “We can learn. We must learn We can develop But it was difficult to accept this defeat. I congratulated the players 10 minutes ago because I couldn’t be happier when we won at Old Trafford and sad today if they both perform well. “We have to know. And we knew before the game that AE had two situations in which they could score. Set pieces and counters And when we defend set pieces with this team We have to concentrate more. Have a more correct attitude and more intelligent in defending set pieces.”
De Zerbi confirmed that Lewis Dunk and striker Evan Ferguson were left out of the squad on Thursday morning. “Dunk couldn’t play because after the Manchester United game he felt he had a problem,” he added. “This afternoon, Ivan had a fever. He’s sick.”
AEK manager Matias Almeyda said the victory is what he hopes will help his side build on their reputation in Europe this season . “We work on the basis of playing a type of football based on teamwork,” he said. “I live my life the way I manage a team. I like to respect people and I like to be respected. We want to be respected in Europe and we want to benefit from that respect. “ We have been working together for more than a year now. We’re here to play our usual games. Opponents forced us to play the game differently many times. But it’s team spirit. fighting spirit And that’s what we can do: keep fighting.”