Despite having a thin roster, Roberto De Zerbi believes Brighton must “love” the challenge of competing in the Premier League and the Europa League.
In an attempt to advance to the next round of the competition, Albion plays AEK Athens on Thursday in the Greek city. A lengthy injury list hasn’t helped their cause, though head coach De Zerbi believes the team has enough talent to compete both domestically and in Europe.
“No, I dislike justifications. Although the Premier League or this competition have the same goal, I am concentrating on the Europa League. We have to play to the best of our abilities when we play. We face a challenge, and we won’t use an excuse like injuries. We are capable of competing in both the Premier League and the Europa League,” he declared.
De Zerbi was delighted with Brighton’s performance on Saturday as they defeated Nottingham Forest 3-2 at City Ground, even though they were reduced to 10 men for almost thirty minutes and had to substitute Ansu Fati and Tariq Lamptey due to injuries.The Italian stated that this demonstrates Albion’s ability to persevere and achieve success in the face of adversity.
“I believe our mentality has reached its pinnacle. Our mentality against Nottingham Forest was excellent. We had a lot of problems for 90 minutes, but the victory was good,” he remarked. “Our fans were very happy, the same with the club, and we have to love this challenge.”
With two games left, Brighton, who are one point behind group leaders Marseille, can win to advance to the next round of the competition.
If Albion wins the group, they advance to the Europa League round of 16, but if they place second, they will play one of the Champions League teams that finished third in their respective group.
