Marseille by plane, train and automobile
From the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur right up on the hill near the Old Port in Marseille to shouting sacrebleu as Brighton almost coming away from Stade Velodrome with a win, it was quite a few days for the Albion in the South of France, mes amis.
A first ever away game in the Europa League was a big occasion. So many amazing stories have come out of Marseille from Brighton fans who made the journey and I have enjoyed hearing all of them back home in Sussex. How lucky we are to be experiencing this unprecedented period of Albion history.
The build up to began on Tuesday evening with the Albion Unlimited podcast on BBC Radio Sussex. Already, some supporters were posting on social media having arrived in Marseille, Nice and other cities in the area early.
Having been to Marseille, toured the city and taken in the Basilique on a non-football occasion, this seemed like a good plan. Even if the Old Port area was officially out-of-bounds for Brighton fans on the advice of the French Police.
On Thursday lunchtime, Sussex Police’s long-serving football liaison officer PC Darren Balkham was interviewed on Sky Sports News.
PC Balkham has been in the role for 25 years now, from Withdean to the Amex and into Europe. He explained how much planning and effort had gone into trying to ensure things went as smoothly as possible for the 2,800 visiting supporters attending the game.
But for all the pre-planning that goes into such events, you cannot always cover all bases. There were very long delays to get away from the stadium by bus after the game.
When buses finally did turn up, there were reports of overcrowding. All of which made me grateful for the service provided by Seagulls Travel; practically VIP in comparison to the French.
Getting to the game was not without problems for those fans flying from Heathrow to Marseille on the day either, including our chairman Mr Tony Bloom.
A delay meant Mr Bloom organising buses to pick supporters up direct from Marseille airport. He even got on the PA system when the plane landed to explain what the club were doing.
How many other clubs would go to those lengths for their supporters? Not many. Mr Paul Barber OBE was later interviewed om the touchline by TNT and explained how the club were doing everything they could to assist fans.
What struck me when it came to kick off was that even with over 60,000 Marseille supporters in the Velodrome, you could still hear the Albion chanting.
Not even one of the most hostile crowds in European football could drown out Good Old Sussex by the Sea. It was fantastic.
I went into the game thinking that whatever the result, playing in Marseille would be an experience the players and our fans would never forget.
The way in which Brighton improved in the second half to come from 2-0 behind and take a point can only be a good thing for the development of our young squad.
I still think that as these players gain this type of European experience, we now need to try harder to keep them with the Albion.
Otherwise, all that experience goes to other clubs, and we have to start all over again. Brighton’s approach to transfers has worked so far, but might it need modifying slightly now we are in Europe?
On the subject of experience, I was so glad that Pascal Gross had recovered from injury. The Albion had missed his expertise when losing 6-1 to Aston Villa and it was definitely required inside Stade Velodrome.
Now, we all know that when Brighton make mistakes, we tend to concede goals big style. Could the Albion get through 90 minutes against Marseille without a howler?
The answer, unfortunately, was no. I am not going to dwell on the two goals conceded in under two minutes which left Brighton 2-0 down.
Roberto De Zerbi has spent weeks telling us the squad is learning how to play three games a week, with both the physical and metal toll that takes.
Mistakes come when players are tired. What matters more is how the Albion reacted. We could easily have had another Villa game on our hands.
But instead, by full time we were left very proud of the team. The heart and soul and passion they had to display to come back and draw 2-2 was something else.
There was more energy and speed from Brighton in the second half. The maestro Gross pulled one back in the 54th minute and then Tariq Lamptey was fouled in the box with two minutes remaining.
Lamptey was excellent all evening, rolling back the years to 2020. It was like all those injury problems had never happened.
Joao Pedro was ‘Captain Cool’ once again and converted the penalty for his third Europa League goal of the season.
With that, the Albion had their first point on the board. A 1-1 draw between Ajax and AEK Athens leaves Group B wide open, giving hope that we could yet progress further in competition.
And even if we fail to do so, Marseille showed these are memories that will last a lifetime.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 2 charts Brighton’s record breaking 2022-23 campaign through the eyes of Tony Noble, an East Stand Upper season ticket holder at the American Express Stadium. It is available from Waterstones, WHSmith, Amazon Bookstore and all good bookshops as well as the Albion Superstore at the Amex and via this link.
