Marseille (H) wins Brighton Europa League Moment of the Season 2023-24

June 11, 2024June 11, 2024 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

The Albion’s first foray into European football was so enjoyable that we introduced a new category to the WAB Brighton 2023-24 Awards – Europa League Moment of the Season.

And the convincing winner was the night the Seagulls secured top spot in Group B and automatic qualification for the round of 16 by beating Olympique de Marseille 1-0 at the Amex Stadium.

The situation going into the final game of the group stage was simple. A draw or win for Marseille would see them through in first place.

Victory for Brighton and the Albion would overtake the French giants to finish top. A scenario which seemed very far fetched two months earlier, when the Albion trailed Marseille 2-0 at half time in the Stade Velodrome having already lost their opening fixture 3-2 to AEK Athens.

A miraculous comeback to draw 2-2 in France was followed by three consecutive wins; home and away against Ajax and then at AEK. Europa League football had already been quite the roller coaster for Brighton in 2023-24.

It was apt then that the identity of the Group B winners was decided in dramatic fashion. Knowing they simply needed to avoid defeat, Marseille used every trick in the gamesmanship book. Feigning injury. Timewasting. You name it, they tried it.

For 88 minutes, it looked like it was going to work. Brighton could find no way through. Marseille fans began letting off flares in the away end, believing top spot was theirs.

Those flares were not the only smoke produced by the visitors. Enough weed to keep the economy of Morocco going was smoked.

There was even the frankly phenomenal sight of a French commentator lighting up a cigarette in the West Stand press section mid-game.

And in the French commentary box 😄 🚬 pic.twitter.com/vsltaqqFl8

— Vicki ✈️ 🇪🇺 (@ThickBlueLine) December 14, 2023

Brighton fans in contrast cannot enter the Amex with a bottle top or homemade sandwiches because the club consider them more dangerous than a nuclear weapon.

On this occasion, however, one heroic Albion supporter did manage to sneak a flare into the North Stand. And when Brighton found a winner with only 120 seconds of normal time remaining, said supporter had the opportune moment to let it off.

Patience and guile provided the goal. Jan Paul van Hecke passed out of defence to Billy Gilmour. Gilmour worked the ball to second half introduction Adam Lallana.

Lallana went around the corner to Pascal Gross, edging Brighton forward. Der Kaiser swept possession perfectly into the path of Joao Pedro.

Two touches, a swivel of the hips and a vicious left footed strike later and the ball was flying into the top corner.

Pedro tore off into the East Stand Lower to celebrate. Roberto De Zerbi dived into the West Stand. Marseille flare smoke converged with Brighton flare smoke, enveloping the Amex. If you had to paint a picture of an authentic European footballing night, this would be it.

The cacophony of noise which greeted the Pedro goal lasted through injury time, reaching another crescendo when the final whistle went.

De Zerbi said afterwards: “It was an amazing game, we played amazing football and we deserved to reach the top of the table and we deserved to win.”

“We could have scored more goals but we are very happy and we are very proud for the club, for Brighton, for our fans, for our club, for our players, for the people who work inside of the club.”

“I think this is the best moment in my time at Brighton. I’ve lost my voice, I’ve lost everything.” Don’t worry, Mister, I lost my mind that night.

Second place in Brighton Europa League Moment of the Season 2023-24 went to the earlier meeting between the Albion and Marseille at the Veldrome.

As already noted, the first half was something of a disaster. Brighton wilted in the face of a hostile atmosphere, impacting even normally reliable players like Lewis Dunk and Joel Veltman.

Brighton conceded two cheap goals in the space of three minutes, leaving their debut European campaign looking like it might be over before it had even begun.

Not many teams recover a two-goal deficit away against Marseille. The Albion though were always capable of doing the impossible under De Zerbi.

Gross pulled one back followed by Tariq Lamptey winning a penalty as the game ticked into its final three minutes.

Home players did their best to get in the head of Pedro before he took. Home fans turned up the decibel levels even further.

Pedro though was calmness personified. He coolly despatched the spot kick to draw the Albion level, cupping his ears to the Marseille Ultras. With that, Brighton had their first ever Europa League point to get their campaign up and running.

Just behind Marseille (A) in the vote was November’s trip to Ajax. 3,000 Brighton supporters had tickets in the away end.

Many thousands more headed to the Netherlands to experience the atmosphere and watch in the pubs and bars of Amsterdam.

It proved to be some trip. Dam Square was a sea of blue and white in the afternoon leading up to kick off at the Johan Cruyff Arena. Many Heineken were sunk and mushrooms imbibed. One Albion fan even managed to fall into a canal after the game.

Brighton for their part delivered on the pitch. Goals from Ansu Fati and Simon Adingra secured a 2-0 win over the four-time European Champions.

Little Old Brighton winning away against Ajax Amsterdam. Who would ever have imagined that even 10 years ago? Let alone back in 1995, when Ajax won their most recent Champions League in the same year the Albion were drawing 2-2 at Canvey Island in the FA Cup.

No Brighton fan will ever forget the Europa League experience of 2023-24. Fingers crossed the Seagulls soar back into Europe again one day.