Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi reacted to his side dropping out of the Europa League following last night’s return leg with Roma.
Despite winning 1-0, the Seagulls were not able to overcome Roma’s initial 4-0 advantage from last week.
In his post-match presser, De Zerbi said, “I have the satisfaction of having seen a team that has pride and I knew it, you have to remember what I said after the 4-0 at the Olimpico, which was very heavy.”
“And I loved my players even more that day. Because I know them well, they are special people because they put pride and values beyond sport and football before the technical, tactical and physical aspects. They were deeply hurt by the match in Rome, we had reached this unexpected goal with great sacrifice and they wanted to play a match of this type.”
“De Rossi? Today I wanted to win 8-0 not 5-0 but De Rossi is a friend before, during and after the match. Even during the game I don’t go into a trance and I don’t forget my friends. We are friends even off the pitch and off football. This is how I experience friendship.”
“Then I want to win but I don’t feel competitive malice. We could have watched the game even from the same bench and nothing would have changed.”
