Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi says he is proud of his players’ performance in their 3-2 defeat to AEK Athens. It was the Seagulls’ debut in the competition, and while they dominated possession with 75% of the ball, they failed to take their chances. Speaking with the press after the match, De Zerbi insisted he is proud of his players, calling it an ‘unfair’ result:
“I’m really proud of my players, for the performance, we were unlucky, I think the result is unfair. I think we played well, I’m really pleased for the performance, we played very well with personality.
“Maybe we don’t have the right experience, we have younger players and we can pay [the price] for this.
“I’m really proud of the performance. For us it was a really historic day. For our fans, I’m sorry for them. We can decide how we are going to play, but we cannot decide the result.”“Dunk is one of the best players in our squad, but we can also concede with Dunk.
“We made three of four mistakes, [and] conceded two goals from set pieces. And the third goal, an incredible goal to concede – I am not able to explain the third goal.
“But in the end I’m happy for the performance, and I have to focus on the performance because I cannot explain how we conceded three goals.”
“You journalists are sneaky and mention us as one of the potential winners, but I laugh. I don’t deny, I don’t respond, I just listen, but this is our first appearance in the Europa League, not just the club, but many of the players.
“That is the problem, getting used to three games per week. We want to improve and to get through the group phase, but we know our strengths, our weaknesses and where we have to improve.”
