Brighton & Hove Albion stays alive against Manchester City and enters the Europa League for the first time


Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 11:06 PM• Tom Rofekamp • Last update: 23:15

Brighton & Hove Albion made history on Wednesday night. Roberto De Zerbi’s team kept champion Manchester City well at 1-1, making it a fact to achieve sixth place. Brighton is entering the Europa League for the first time in club history. Jan Paul van Hecke played the entire game and kept Erling Braut Haaland surprisingly easily under control.

There was still little to play for champion City, so Guardiola decided to save some strength again, just like against Chelsea. For example, Rúben Dias, Jack Grealish, Aymeric Laporte and Manuel Akanji were missing from the match selection and Julian Álvarez started on the bench. Haaland already got some rest last Sunday and was ‘just’ kicking off again at the Falmer Stadium. Nathan Aké had to miss the game because of persistent complaints to his calf.

Instead of City, it was Brighton that went for the points. The Seagulls had one enough to officially qualify for the Europa League. The fact that the opening goal came from the visitors was therefore a major downer for De Zerbi and co. Riyad Mahrez cleared Haaland, who steamed towards Jason Steele’s goal. The sprinting Phil Foden was completely overlooked by the Brighton defense and was able to tap in effortlessly when he got the ball from Haaland: 0-1.

The backlog was unjustified, as Brighton had the upper hand. It had already hit the post after twenty minutes and scored a rejected goal ten minutes later, but only saw the work ethic being rewarded five minutes before the break. And how. Julio Enciso received the ball about twenty meters from the goal and brilliantly crossed it past Stefan Ortega in the cross: 1-1. Brighton were back on course for the Europa League and even tried to go for victory.

However, it was City that almost stole the three points at the last minute. Ten minutes before the end, Cole Palmer found Haaland with a fine cross, but the Norwegian super striker fouled his ‘goal’. The 1-1 was thus maintained, with which De Zerbi’s mission was accomplished. Joël Veltman also came within the lines fifteen minutes before the end.

No. Team m W G v +/- Pnt
1 Manchester City 37 28 5 4 62 89
2 Arsenal 37 25 6 6 40 81
3 Newcastle United 37 19 13 5 35 70
4 Manchester United 36 21 6 9 11 69
5 Liverpool 37 19 9 9 28 66
6 Brighton & Hove Albion 37 18 8 11 20 62
7 Aston Villa 37 17 7 13 4 58
8 Tottenham Hotspur 37 17 6 14 4 57
9 Brentford 37 14 14 9 11 56
10 Fulham 37 15 7 15 3 52
11 Crystal Palace 37 11 11 15 -9 44
12 Chelsea 36 11 10 15 -6 43
13 Wolverhampton W. 37 11 8 18 -22 41
14 West Ham United 37 11 7 19 -12 40
15 AFC Bournemouth 37 11 6 20 -33 39
16 Nottingham Forest 37 9 10 18 -30 37
17 Everton 37 7 12 18 -24 33
18 Leicester City 37 8 7 22 -18 31
19 Leeds United 37 7 10 20 -27 31
20 Southampton 37 6 6 25 -37 24

June 3 final