Grazie Mister De Zerbi: Brighton 0-2 Manchester United photos
The 90 minutes of football in Brighton 0-2 Manchester United became a sideshow with almost every one of our fan photos instead focussing on the goodbye to Roberto De Zerbi.
24 hours before the Albion took to the field for the final game of the 2023-24 season came the official announcement De Zerbi would be leaving Brighton.
It was that strangest of things; a shock which did also not come as a surprise. Form has been poor for months. De Zerbi had criticised the board in public. And all parties were at an impasse over a new contract.
Nobody though expected confirmation that Brighton and De Zerbi would be parting ways before facing Manchester United. Credit to the club for that.
It gave the Amex the chance to offer a proper send off to arguably the best head coach in Albion history. Lessons have been learnt from sacking Chris Hughton less than 24 hours after the last game of the 2018-19 campaign against Manchester City, controversially denying Hughton the goodbye he deserved.
De Zerbi walked around the pitch come full time, lapping up the adulation of the crowd before making an emotional speech in front of the North Stand.
“Roberto De Zerbi, we want you to stay,” sung the crowd. The question of whether we will ever see Brighton play football like last season’s free flowing DeZerbiBall or qualify for Europe again hung in the air.
And then it was over. Tony Bloom now faces the challenges of finding someone to step into the big boots of De Zerbi. The sixth place finish, those Europa League nights and the connection De Zerbi forged with supporters make him a very tough act to follow.
De Zerbi was not the only one saying goodbye of course. Adam Lallana also bid farewell, the recipient of a standing ovation upon his 55th minute substitution. He will surely return to the Amex one day in a coaching role.
As for the game, Brighton were much the better team through the opening 70 minutes. A failure to take opportunities proved costly though as United scored twice on the counter through Diogo Dalot and Rasmus Hojlund to take the three points back to leaky Old Trafford.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Brighton 0-2 Manchester United gallery please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
