Shot! Brighton vs AEK Athens
Despite all the excitement and optimism, the Seagulls first ever game in Europe turned out to be a miserable night, a rain-soaked Greek tragedy that ended in heartache
After finishing sixth in the Premier League last season, Brighton & Hove Albion, the football club closest to where I live, qualified to play in Europe for the first time in their 122-year-old history.
Specifically, they qualified for the UEFA Europa League, where they were drawn against tough opposition in the form of Ajax, Marseilles and AEK Athens.
Despite the quality of the teams they needed to beat just to get out of the group stage, perhaps somewhat fancifully, European new boys Brighton had quickly been installed second favourites behind Liverpool to go on and win the tournament.
Their opening game at the Amex against the Greek champions came less than a week after Roberto De Zerbi’s high-flying Seagulls had comprehensively beaten Man Utd at Old Trafford.
The day before the big match, I attended the Manager’s Press Conference at the club’s training complex in Lancing.
Alongside RDZ was Pascal Gross, who at 32 had just received his first call-up to the German national team. The midfielder, who’d scored in the 3–1 victory at Man Utd, was looking forward to making his European debut and credited his manager for what he’d achieved in his year in charge.
Talking to the media, De Zerbi acknowledged that while his side were doing well, they had a long way to go before they could be seen as one of Europe’s elite clubs:
“We are improving, but we are not a big team yet, but we are a good team.”
He then added:
“We believe in ourselves and the quality of the players, but we are Brighton, we know our level.”
His demenour and words struck me that he was trying to manage expectations:
“When I am speaking about ‘we are Brighton’ it is because we cannot forget where we started and who we were.”
“I never thought we could come this far, it’s incredible how we’ve grown, especially in the last year.”
He ended by saying:
“The occasion will mean a lot. I’ve been watching European football all my life so this is a proud moment. I’m looking forward to it and I want to enjoy it, but I also want to win the game.”
The following evening and all eyes were on Brighton. There was Albion bunting at the train station and even the Royal Pavilion was bathed in blue light to mark the occasion.
The only one’s not playing ball were the weather gods as the city experienced a torrential downpour all evening.
A full house of 30,178 packed the Amex including some 1500 AEK fans. Having always referred to them as ‘A E K’ Athens, I’m now a little confused as some are pronouncing it like the word ache. Looking at their crest, where the three letters have full-stops after them, I still think it’s correct to call them A E K.
To commemorate playing in Europe for the first time, Brighton pulled out all the stops. There was a range of commemorative Europa League merchandise including a white jersey bearing an image of the aforementioned Royal Pavilion and an impressive 82-page souvenir programme, complete with a specially commissioned poster.
Once inside the ground, Europa League branding was everywhere, with the ‘energy wave’ logo dominating the centre circle and a Europa League arch was set up in front of the tunnel. Supporters had been given either blue or white flags to wave as the atmosphere continued to build. And then the line-ups were revealed.
De Zerbi made seven changes to the team that won at Old Trafford the previous Sunday, leaving out captain Lewis Dunk (who was on the cover of the matchday programme) and rising star-striker Evan Ferguson to rest minor injuries.
With two towering presences missing, De Zerbi gave a first start to Ansu Fati who recently joined on loan from Barcelona and handed Igor his debut in defence. He also gave the captain’s armband to Pascal Gross.
With kick-off approaching, there was a rousing version of Sussex by the Sea and pyros added to occasion as the two teams took to the pitch. But the biggest noise came from the AEK fans who sang lustily all night and added so much to the atmosphere only a big cup game can engender.
On an historic night, the script all but seemed to have been written for a famous Brighton victory. But the weather gods and the yellow-clad Grecians had other ideas and we never got to see the fluid Albion side that had so impressively beaten Man Utd to sit fifth in the Premier League having won four of their first five games.
While not at their best, the Seagulls looked to have settled when, against the run of play, they went behind on 11 minutes with AEK’s first meaningful attack.
James Milner conceded a corner which reached Djibril Sidibe, who was unmarked just inside the box. The French defender powered an unstoppable looping header past Steele for the opener, causing the raucous AEK fans behind the goal to go even wilder and sing even louder.
Stunned by the goal, Albion never looked watertight at the back and clearly missed Dunk’s defensive prowess. The incessant rain was making it heavy going and despite their endeavours Brighton were never at their fluid best.
It took a VAR intervention on the half-hour to get them back in the game. Despite appearing to be a stone wall penalty, Joao Pedro was initially booked for a dive as he stepped inside a tackle from Ehsan Hajsafi, but not for the first time during the evening, VAR came to Albion’s rescue.
Pedro took the spot kick himself, sending Cian Stankovic the wrong way to bag the Seagulls’ first-ever European goal, much to the delight of the home fans.
But the elation was short lived as on 40 minutes Mijat Gacinovic put the visitors back in front.
Whilst few would have been impressed with their first half performance, most Brighton supporters would have expected their team to make big improvements after the break.
It was fitting then that during half-time, Figure It Out from Brighton’s Royal Blood was blasted from the PA. It seemed like someone was trying to send a subliminal message to RBZ and his players in the changing room.
Although Albion attacked early in the second half, it was without much conviction. Despite being the stronger side, they didn’t take their chances. The question was could they get back on level terms, perhaps even steal a win?
With the rain still hammering down, Brighton lost their most experienced player, James Milner, to injury. Not long after, AEK’s Ehsan Hajsafi clashed heads with Jan Paul Van Hecke which left the Iranian defender needing prolonged treatment in the goalmouth before being stretchered off the field.
Once the game got back underway Joao Pedro seized on an error by Damian Szymanski, before the Pole kicked him in the shin. It was deja vu all over again as initially no penalty was given, but once more the ref was directed to the screen and changed his mind.
When Pedro slotted his second penalty home in the 67th minute, it looked as if Brighton had at least secured a valuable point, but with just six minutes of the ninety left, AEK’s Niclas Eliasson slid the ball to substitute Ezequial Ponce and the Seagulls were caught two-on-two at the back. It was the classic counter attack with Van Hecke and Lamptey left floundering and the Argentinian netting the winner for the Greek champions.
Despite 13 minutes of injury time and Brighton fashioning a few chances to get the equaliser, AEK weathered the storm to come away with a victory and go top of group B. It was the first time they had beaten English opposition since 1977.
For Brighton, hoping to mark their first game in Europe with a win, it was both a disappointing result and an out of sorts performance, where even much-lauded new boy Ansu Fati failed to impress.
Of course the weather didn’t help, but conditions were the same for both teams. And with too many lacklustre performances, no cutting edge upfront and clearly missing Dunk’s leadership at the back, it felt like Albion were intimidated more by the occasion, than their opponents.
The physical nature of the game could be summed up by the litany of yellow cards brandished by the Estonian referee. Brighton players received four with even De Zerbi getting one, while the visitors got seven or was it eight, I lost count.
With expectations high and so many looking forward to Brighton’s big night, the game turned out to be a damp squib with AEK raining on their parade. Losing to the team considered by most to be the weakest in the group certainly dampened the spirits.
As the fans spilled out of the Amex, and the rain became even more biblical, one could only reflect that the night had been something of a washout, with Brighton becoming the first English side to lose their debut European game since Blackburn Rovers back in 1994–95.
If they are to get out of the group, Albion will need to markedly improve and hope that missing players return. They will also know they face even tougher opposition in the form of Ajax and Marseille.
Speaking after the game, De Zerbi rued the way his team had conceded three goals at home:
“We made mistakes in the last part of the pitch and missed the chances we created. We’re sad because we couldn’t make our fans happy, but we have to analyse the performance. We have to learn. We can improve, but it’s difficult to accept this defeat.”
Brighton: Steele; Milner (Lamptey 55), Van Hecke, Igor, Estupinan; Gross, Gilmour (Buonanotte 86); March, Ansu, Mitoma (Adingra 86); Joao Pedro (Welbeck 82) Unused subs: Verbruggen, McGill, Veltman, Webster, Dahoud, Lallana, Hinshelwood, Baleba
AEK: Stankovic; Sidibe, Mitoglou, Szymanski, Hajsafi (Mohammadi 60); Jonsson, Pineda (Mantalos 79), Amrabat, Gacinovic (Eliasson 79); Garcia (Ponce 68), Araujo (Zuber 68) Unused subs: Athanasiadis, Theocharis, Rota, Galanopoulos, Pizarro
Behind the shot: All these images were taken handheld with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 using the M Zuiko 1.8 75mm lens. The black and whites were from the Manager’s Conference at the club’s training ground the day before the match and the rest were at the game itself. From a photography point of view, the night also proved to be a washout. Unlike my previous visits to the Amex where I was in the press box close to the pitch, this time I was up in the nosebleeds at the very back of the stand. That meant it was impossible to get the kind of dynamic images I wanted, all I could do was get ‘aerial’ shots of the action. Shot at the Amex Stadium on 21 September 2023.
About the author: Based in Sussex-by-the-Sea, on England’s south coast, Gary is a creative writer and image-maker. He specialises in creating out of the ordinary portraits of musicians and people with interesting faces, as well as photographing some of the world’s finest flowers and gardens, not forgetting an array of automotive exotica.
On the writing side, he has used his research skills to author deep dives into some noteworthy songs beginning with Bryan Ferry’s ‘These Foolish Things’ ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials, ‘Real Wild Child’ by Ivan and ‘All The Young Dudes’ by Mott the Hoople.
He has also written a biography of Robert Palmer and the stories behind Whitesnake’s blatant Led Zep rip-off, ‘Still Of The Night’, Harry Styles’ anthem to positivity, ‘Treat People With Kindness’ and the little known Queen track ‘Cool Cat.’
Most recently, Gary has penned the fascinating story behind George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four.’ as well as ‘Believe It Or Not’ a look into the rise of fake news.
All these can be found here on Medium, along with his reviews of gigs and events and chats with musicians including the likes of Royal Blood, Joe Satriani and Wolf Alice.
