One night in Rome: Roma 4-0 Brighton photos
Are these photos from the Stadio Olimpico where Roma beat Brighton 4-0 the last we will see for some time of the Seagulls in European action?
Quite possibly. A heavy defeat in the Eternal City leaves the Albion eliminated from the Europa League, barring an absolute miracle when Daniele De Rossi brings I Giallorossi to the Amex for the second leg next week.
Roma showed why they have made it to back-to-back Europa Conference and Europa League finals in the past two seasons. They had the experience and nous for the big occasion, whilst Brighton appeared overawed by the Olimpico.
It was not the day you wanted to see one of the worst performances of the Roberto De Zerbi era so far. The Albion boss did not help matters, opting for a back three and a high line which directly contributed to the opening two Roma goals.
De Zerbi took defeat with good grace afterwards, directing a not-so-thinly veiled barb at Tony Bloom. The players, manager and owner need to learn from their mistakes according to De Zerbi, which presumably means Bloom not giving De Zerbi the summer and January transfer windows he wanted.
Paulo Dybala raced clear of that aforementioned high line to open the scoring after 13 minutes. A Lewis Dunk mistake then gifted Romelu Lukaku a second for Roma on the stroke of half time.
Further woeful defending came in the second half. Two crosses into the box in the space of four minutes saw Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante wrap up victory on the night and realistically the tie itself.
Still, some perspective. Yes, the Albion bottled in being so easily conquered by the Romans. But the memories of watching Brighton away against Marseille, Ajax, AEK Athens and now Roma will last a lifetime.
Don’t cry because Europe is over. Smile because it happened. It was some adventure.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Roma 4-0 Brighton gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
