Brighton handed a 3-2 defeat by Athens' AEK in Europa League opener

Widad September 22, 2023 0

AEK Athens

Although Roberto De Zerbi attributed Brighton's opening Europa League defeat to defensive errors, he stated that overall he was pleased with his team's performance.

The club's first-ever debut in European competition was eagerly anticipated by Brighton supporters all summer, but AEK Athens spoilt the fun by winning a nail-biting 3-2 match at the American Express Community Stadium.

Lewis Dunk, a central defender and captain for De Zerbi's team, was injured, and his absence seemed to show as the guests gave up three easy goals.

The Greek visitors scored twice from set pieces, but two Joao Pedro penalties from Brighton allowed them to come back twice, EuroSport wrote.

In the closing minutes, Ezequiel Ponce took advantage of further sloppy play to steal three points for AEK, ruining Brighton's chances of moving on to the knockout rounds.

De Zerbi agreed that his team was responsible for their own demise, but he didn't think they deserved to lose.

“I’m really proud of my players, for the performance,” the Italian coach told TNT Sports.

“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.”

De Zerbi was questioned further about whether Dunk's absence made Brighton's defense more flimsy, but the England international wasn't sure the player would have made a difference.

“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.”

The former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a brace for the visitors in an exciting 3-3 draw between Ajax and Marseille in Amsterdam.