Roma were far too good for us, De Zerbi concedes after Brighton massacre 

Brighton & Hove Albion’s manager Roberto De Zerbi admits that Roma was far the better side in their Europa League round of 16 first-leg clash at the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday.

Paulo Dybala, Romelu Lukaku, Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante all scored for Roma yesterday, as they demolished Brighton 4-0, making it the heaviest defeat an English club has suffered in Europe since Bayern Munich defeated Tottenham Hotspur 7-2 on October 1.

A brutal night for Roberto de Zerbi's side.#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/vTGBg7RKH3

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) March 7, 2024

Reacting to the loss post-match, De Zerbi told Sky Sport Italia, “We did our best in terms of effort, but in terms of football quality it was 20-25-30 per cent of our potential.

“It was in a certain sense to be expected because we are not accustomed to playing these games, whereas Roma are and we saw a difference in pace, calm, self-belief and experience of this knockout fixture.

“Roma were far too good for us tonight, considering what we did.”

De Zerbi on why Brighton lost

He said, “The real problem is that we struggle to play three games a week with 15-16 players available. Finding the energy to play 90 minutes in the Premier League, then another 90 in the Europa League. If you don’t have the ability to rotate the squad, you are running on empty.

“It is a rude awakening, we were all hoping for a different match, a different result and also a different quality of football. The thing that irritates us the most is that we were unable to express ourselves.”

In an uphill task to turn the defeat around and possibly make it into the next round, Roberto De Zerbi and Brighton will welcome Danielle De Rossi and Roma at the Amex Stadium next week Thursday.