De Zerbi runs out of road in Rome
Like all roads, Brighton’s led them to Rome whereupon resistance faltered, they conceded four and must now confront the bitter end of their first european campaign.
Roberto De Zerbi’s team saved some of their worst for the big occasion. They produced flashes of creative flair but were wasteful in front of goal. At the back they were painfully fragile, easy to penetrate and strewn with errors in the face of Roma’s intensity.
Daniele De Rossi promised to match his friend De Zerbi’s reputation for bold, attacking football and Paulo Dybala gave Roma an early lead. Romelu Lukaku, who troubled Lewis Dunk throughout, pounced on a mistake to make it two, before Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante doubled the advantage in the second half.
They came, they saw, they crumbled, to misquote Julius Caesar.
‘The only positive is that i lost against a friend,’ said De Zerbi. ‘imagine what it would have been like to lose against someone i can’t stand. We lost deservedly to a better team who are used to playing these matches.
‘The truth is that we are not used to playing these games at this level. This is a lesson to learn for the president to improve the team, and for myself to improve from January to March, and for the players.’
There is a second leg at the Amex next week but Brighton do not look capable of delivering any more footballing miracles.
it has been fun, emerging as winners from a tough group of famous clubs and visiting some of the great venues of european football, but there was little to savour in this fixture.
Two supporters were stabbed on the eve of the game. Thankfully, not seriously hurt. And last night bottles, coins and lighters rained into the away end, forcing Brighton to issue a statement calling for immediate action.
‘Sad news and a special pain to me because it happened in my country,’ said De Zerbi.
Roma, last year’s beaten finalists with the europa League in their sights again, came out bristling with intent, roared on by a ferocious home crowd.
Brighton lived dangerously in a breathless opening sequence but almost levelled when Simon Adingra saw his effort strike defender evan Ndicka and deflect against a post.
Roma took the lead through Dybala, bursting clear on to a pass out of defence, skipping past Jason Steele and sliding the ball into an open goal from an angle.
An offside flag went up but Dybala had timed his run to perfection and VAR overruled.
Brighton responded. Two Danny Welbeck headers were kept out by Mile Svilar, and in between those saves came Roma’s second.
Dunk’s control deserted him under pressure, and Lukaku pounced, driving on and beating Steele with a confident and a decisive finish at his near post.
Mancini turned in a cross at full stretch for the third and Cristante headed in from another cross from Roma’s left.
ROMA (4-3-3): Svilar 7; Celik 7, Mancini 7, N’Dicka 7, Spinazzola 7.5 (Llorente 82min); Cristante 7, Paredes 7 (Bove 72, 5), Pellegrini 7; Dybala 7.5 (Baldanzi 72, 5), LUKAKU 8 (Azmoun 88), El Shaarawy 6.5 (Zalewski 88). Scorers: Dybala 12, Lukaku 43, Mancini 64, Cristante 68. Booked: Spinazzola.
Manager: Daniele De Rossi 7.
BRIGHTON (4-2-3-1): Steele 5; Lamptey 5, Van Hecke 5.5, Dunk 4, Julio 6 (Estupinan 75); Gilmour 6 (Baleba 81), Gross 6; Buonanotte 5.5 (Veltman 75, 6), Enciso 5 (Fati 46, 5), Adingra 6.5; Welbeck 6 (Ferguson 81). Booked: Van Hecke, Lamptey. Manager: Roberto De Zerbi 6.
Referee: Francois Letexier (Fra) 6. Attendance: 64,877.