The Seagulls have been on a roll this season, and yesterday, they drew 1-1 with champions Manchester City to secure a Europa League spot.
For the first time in their 122-year history, a team that was competing in League One 12 years ago has qualified for Europe, and they did it by playing an aggressive style of football with a fun, youthful, and affordable team.
Brighton also managed to beat Manchester United 2-1 away to have a strong season debut. They were fourth in the standings after six games but lost their manager Graham Potter, Billy Reid, and numerous other important coaching staff members to Chelsea, who paid more than £21 million to gain their services.
However, this worked as a motivator for the club rather than a setback. Roberto de Zerbi, an ex-manager of Shakhtar Donetsk, was brought in, and the team hasn’t looked back since.
Following Potter’s departure, Brighton only spoke to De Zerbi regarding the vacant managerial position. He had guided Serie A team Sassuolo to back-to-back eighth-place finishes before joining Shakhtar Donetsk and winning the Ukrainian Super Cup.
“When you employ a new coach, you never know what can happen,” said Brighton chairman Tony Bloom. “Fortunately, we found the ideal candidate, and the players have responded to him amazingly. His ability to inspire players, use strategy, and get the greatest performance out of our players has been fantastic.
