European football can become the norm for Brighton fans
The City of Brighton & Hove gave all its support to the Albion ahead of the club’s Europa League debut, making what was already a very special occasion feel even bigger.
The rail station carried blue and white bunting. The street lamps had good luck messages for the team. Even the Royal Pavilion was lit up at night in Brighton blue.
Unfortunately, I missed all this due to a holiday booked which could not be changed. This did mean though I got to see the column inches devoted to our club in foreign newspapers and other media.
There we were, for example, the Albion in black and white in the newsletter handed out by our hotel covering the day’s sport. Never before had I seen that.
Despite all the interest in Brighton and the Europa League, I had to carry out some research into how I could watch the game in Madeira.
By mid afternoon, I was cooking on gas and had access to TNTV to watch via the Discovery Plus Channel app.
BBC Radio Sussex did a great job in building up to the historic evening, starting with the Danny Pike Show.
Reporters spoke to fans of both Brighton and AEK Athens gathered in their respective pubs. The King & Queen was base for the Greek supporters and they were apparently in good spirits, singing away non-stop and creating quite the atmosphere.
When the teams were announced, the Albion showed seven changes from the side who had beaten Manchester United. Most notable were Lewis Dunk and Evan Ferguson both missing.
We always knew that playing in the Europa League would stretch the squad. No team should rely on just one man, either. And the only way the less experienced players can learn is by playing games and making mistakes.
That is especially true in Europe, where a lot of the Albion have never played before. AEK were clever but our players will get there. Cut out the mistakes and it would have been a different story. We must all have faith in Roberto De Zerbi.
It looked a damp day in Sussex to say the least. One Brighton fan even wrote on social media that the journey home was the wettest they had ever been in their life… including when sitting through matches at Withdean!
UEFA rules were in evidence from the start with seats covered up and Sussex by the Sea playing whilst the teams were still in the tunnel. The players instead walked out and lined up to the official Europa League anthems.
Pascal Gross was captain for the night and exchanged pennants with thee AEK skipper. Gross lost the toss and AEK turned the teams around, meaning Brighton defended the South Stand first. I had a bad feeling from that moment on. Superstition really is ridiculous, don’t you think?
11 minutes had been played when my phone chimed up. “Oh blimey, we are 1-0 down,” I said to my wife. “Don’t be so ridiculous, how do you know?” she replied.
I then explained the time lapse between notifications and the television coverage. And sure as eggs are eggs, across came an AEK corner for the unmarked Djibril Sidibe to head straight into Jason Steele’s top left hand corner.
Not getting the first goal put the Albion under even more pressure. Brighton found themselves caught napping on several occasions by the Greek visitors, who were a tough bunch. They had come to the Amex to spoil the party and certainly did that.
Athens were awarded seven yellow cards compared to four shown to Brighton. The Albion won a total of 11 corners, AEK two. The visitors scored from their first set piece whilst Brighton’s never amounted to anything. An area for improvement, for sure.
If you are look at the passing stats, they were even more in favour of Brighton. 616 Albion passes completed compared to 206 for Athens.
However, we all know it is goals that count and Brighton managed only two through Joao Pedro penalties rightly earned by the same player.
Pedro had quite the game and was unlucky not to score a third late on, hitting a shot straight at AEK goalkeeper Cican Stankovic. Maybe he should have squared for Kaoru Mitoma and what would have been a tap in?
De Zerbi tried all his options from the bench, including Simon Adingra. Stankovic denied Adingra and made a couple of good stops from Ansu Fati.
The Greek press had said in the build up to the game that Brighton could expect a high octane attacking approach from AEK in the style of former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa. That was certainly how it panned out.
But result aside, it was still a fantastic occasion and a true landmark to see Brighton playing Europa League football. It felt surreal… although if Brighton continue on their current trajectory under Mister De Zerbi, European nights will soon become the norm rather than feeling like special occasions.
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.
