Manchester United goes down in 99th minute in Brighton: ‘There is a football god’ | Foreign football

Brighton & Hove Albion also beat Manchester United on the first day of the Premier League. On August 7, 2022, it became 1-2 The Seagulls at Old Trafford, where Erik ten Hag’s debut was ruined. A week later, Ten Hag also lost 4-0 at Brentford, but after that Manchester United slowly scribbled up and now placement for the Champions League is almost certain.

In the battle for fourth place, good for playing in the Champions League next season, United still hold a four-point lead over Liverpool, which has also played a game more, despite the defeat in Brighton. Brighton still have a chance to finish fifth and thus displace Liverpool from the spot that entitles them to direct qualification for the Europa League.

Brighton returned to the top tier in 2017 after 34 years in England’s second and third tiers, but after good seasons under Chris Hughton and Graham Potter, Italian coach Roberto De Zerbi has taken the club to an even higher level this season and let them compete for European football, moreover with very entertaining and attacking football.

Wout Weghorst came in about ten minutes before the end at Manchester United, where Tyrell Malacia remained on the bench. Joël Veltman was missing at Brighton due to an injury. Manchester United eliminated Brighton a week and a half ago in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. In the final, the Ten Hag team will compete against Manchester City on Saturday, June 3, which is also heading for its fifth national title in six years under Pep Guardiola.

The fact that the defeat after penalties at Wembley was still deep for Brighton was evident in De Zerbi’s reaction afterwards. “There is clearly a football god, because we deserved to win in the semi-final,” said De Zerbi. “I think we played better than United in both games. The last result at Wembley was unfair, but now we have taken an important step towards our goal: to reach European football. We dominated the game against an incredible team, but now we have six more very tough games to play in the race for European football.”

Brighton continues that hunt for a European ticket on Monday evening with a home game against Everton, the number nineteen in the Premier League. Manchester United will visit number fifteen West Ham United on Sunday evening, AZ’s opponent at the London Stadium in the first semi-final in the Conference League next Thursday.