It’s Wednesday night inside the Amex Stadium. Simon Hooper blows the whistle that Brighton & Hove Albion have been waiting for. Their draw with Manchester City has secured their qualification for the Europa League in 2023-24. The stadium erupts as the fans go wild and the players and coaching staff celebrate their incredible season. The Europa League anthem blasts through the speakers to give those who felt like they were dreaming the confirmation that this is, in fact, their reality.
What a year it has been for the Seagulls. Roberto De Zerbi has delivered European football to Brighton for the first time in their 121-year history. Those scenes at full-time were just another example of the power of football taking effect. A community which has seen its club spend the majority of its history in the lower tiers of the Football League is experiencing one of the biggest highs it has ever seen and is savouring every second of it.
READ MORE:
It was as refreshing as their team’s fantastic football, exemplified by Julio Enciso’s outstanding equaliser which was arguably one of the goals of the season. His stunning strike was the very definition of top bins.
Usually when you see members of the big six qualify for the Europa League it reeks of misery as they strop over not being good enough to reach the Champions League. The opportunity to play in European competition is a privilege, it has to be earned. Clubs are not entitled to take part in it because of their name alone.
Brighton have more than deserved to take their talents and mesmerising style of play to the European stage. They will use this platform hoping to go as far as possible in the competition, unlike the likes of Hull City and Burnley in recent years, both of whom forsook their opportunity without a second thought to prioritise Premier League survival
The Seagulls, though, appear to be looking at this whole Europe malarkey through different lenses. De Zerbi and his players will embrace this exciting challenge coming their way, and will want to show the rest of Europe just what they’re about having tormented some of English football’s elite in the Premier League this term. The product of the Europa League will be strengthened by having this free-flowing Brighton side in it. It will certainly be a lot more interesting to watch from a neutral perspective than it would have been to see an erratic Tottenham Hotspur go through the motions with a weakened side.
Right now, Brighton would be counted among the dark horses for the silverware itself. Perennial winners and 2023 finalists Sevilla have a squad bursting with talent and there is depth to go along with that. That’s what it generally takes to be successful, while the potential for some high-profile exits in Sussex makes Albion’s credentials uncertain. Alexis Mac Allister is poised to join Liverpool and fellow midfielder Moises Caicedo could also be on the move having been the subject to several bids from Arsenal in the January transfer window.
This is where Brighton’s genius becomes most transparent. No matter how many high-profile players move on, their finely-tuned recruitment system will guarantee that those stars will be replaced and new ones will be waiting to be forged. Brighton’s owner Tony Bloom is confident in that approach. He told talkSPORT: “We’ll be able to compete next season even if we lose a couple of our star players.”
Given the club’s track record for replacing key players, such as Pervis Estupinan coming in to fill the void left by Marc Cucurella last year, you can expect Brighton to have another successful summer ahead of the biggest campaign in their history. Those celebrations we witnessed on Wednesday night are sure to carry on for the next few weeks because this is an achievement the Seagulls' fans will cherish for the rest of their lives.
