Brighton & Hove Albion’s first ever European campaign began with a thrilling 3-2 loss at home to AEK Athens.
The Seagulls are among the bookmakers’ favourites for this season’s Europa League but they were beaten on their continental bow at the AMEX Stadium on Thursday.
Roberto De Zerbi’s men went behind three times in total as the Greek champions earned a crucial win in Group B.
How the game unfolded
AEK Athens took a shock lead with 11 minutes gone. A deep corner from Ehsan Haji Safi was met by former Monaco and Everton defender Djibril Sidibe, and his looping header found the top corner.
The visitors nearly doubled their lead soon after when Levi Garcia made a clever run off the back of Jan Paul van Hecke, with Jason Steele producing a fine save with his feet.
AEK carved out an almost identical chance midway through the first half, but Garcia this time poked the ball wide.
Brighton nearly found an equaliser when Joao Pedro’s cross was met by Igor, but he couldn’t keep his close-range header on target.
Pedro was then booked for a dive in the penalty area when tripped by Gerasimos Mitoglou, but this was rescinded when Brighton were awarded a spot kick after a VAR check. The Brazilian stepped up and sent goalkeeper Cican Stankovic the wrong way to score the Seagulls’ first ever European goal.
Just as Brighton were starting to control the game, AEK went back in front from another set piece. Van Hecke swung and missed an in-swinging free-kick from Haji Safi, with the ball falling kindly for Mijat Gacinovic to slide in at the back post.
Having initially lost the ball, Van Hecke had to recover and put in a last-ditch challenge to prevent Orbelin Pineda from pulling the trigger when bearing down on goal.
After the break, Brighton wanted another penalty when Pedro won the ball off the toes of Damian Szymanski and the Poland defender swiped at his legs when trying to clear. Again, the hosts were awarded a deserved spot kick after a VAR check.
Pedro again deceived Stankovic and scored from 12 yards to level proceedings once more.
Brighton were then in the ascendancy and went close to going ahead for the first time when Pedro met a long through ball from Van Hecke, but this time Stankovic was equal to his effort.
With less than ten minutes to go, AEK added their third and found themselves back in front. Tariq Lamptey lost an aerial battle to Ezequiel Ponce, setting up a two-v-two situation against Van Hecke and Steele. Niclas Eliasson squared the loose ball back to Ponce to poke beyond the Brighton goalkeeper and silence the AMEX.
The fourth official added 13 minutes at the end of the second half due to a head injury to Haji Safi and Simon Adingra nearly scored at the start of that period, forcing a flying save out of Stankovic with a top-corner bound strike from the edge of the box.
Pascal Gross brought a similar stop out of Stankovic from range, with the rebound falling onto the head of Danny Welbeck. However, the striker was stretching and his effort landed on top of the net.
In the final minute of stoppage time, Stankovic came for and missed a deep Brighton corner, with the ball ricocheting off the head of Van Hecke, but none of his teammates were alert to it and AEK held on to take the three points.
GK: Jason Steele – 6/10 – Made some important saves to keep Brighton within touching reach of AEK.
RB: James Milner – 6/10 – The first player to represent five English clubs in Europe. Threatening on the overlap before succumbing to injury early in the second half.
CB: Jan Paul van Hecke – 3/10 – Oafish and clumsy from the off. Swiped and missed a crucial interception for AEK’s second goal, did little to help Lamptey for the third.
CB: Igor – 5/10 – Lacked the sturdiness and authority that injured club captain Lewis Dunk would have brought.
LB: Pervis Estupinan – 5/10 – Caught high up the pitch on several occasions and provided little going forward.
CM: Pascal Gross – 6/10 – Played more directly when Brighton needed more impetus though was unable to come up with a killer pass.
CM: Billy Gilmour – 5/10 – Buzzed about midfield with enthusiasm but did little to unlock a stubborn AEK outfit.
RM: Solly March – 5/10 – Got fans off their seats with a lovely flick between two AEK defenders in the second half but that was the most significant moment of his quiet evening.
AM: Ansu Fati – 6/10 – Probed between the lines and is clearly a player De Zerbi will love working with. Needed to be more aggressive in and around the box to make more of a direct difference, though.
LM: Kaoru Mitoma – 5/10 – AEK repeatedly slammed the door shut in Mitoma’s face when he tried to make inroads down the wing.
CF: Joao Pedro – 7/10 – Won the penalties, scored the penalties. Etched into Brighton history. Hold-up play was a little hectic, though needed more support from the wingers in order to play their fluid system more effectively.
Substitutes
SUB: Tariq Lamptey (55′ for Milner) – 5/10
SUB: Danny Welbeck (82′ for Pedro) – 5/10
SUB: Simon Adingra (86′ for Mitoma) – N/A
SUB: Facundo Buonanotte (86′ for Gilmour) – N/A
Subs not used: Verbruggen (GK), McGill (GK), Webster, Veltman, Hinshelwood, Dahoud, Lallana, Baleba
Manager
Roberto De Zerbi – 4/10 – Brighton failed to create too many clear chances and they were pushovers defensively, particularly on set plays.
Player of the match – Djibril Sidibe (AEK Athens)
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