Brighton & Hove Albion needed all but a point to make sure of their Europa League spot, and they pushed Manchester City to the limit to earn it with an exciting 1-1 draw at the Amex on Wednesday evening.
Julio Enciso scored a stunning equalizer from long range in the 38th minute to cancel Phil Foden's earlier strike, earning Brighton a well deserved result.
Brighton boss, Roberto De Zerbi, says City didn't do them any favors, they deserved their point, in what he says was one of the best games of the season.
"We didn’t receive a gift of the one point, we deserved the result. I am really proud, because I think this one of the best games of the season. It was very tough, but we played with incredible quality and courage," De Zerbi said after the match as quoted by brightonandhovealbion.com.
"The improvement of the players has been fantastic and for me it’s very satisfying. We had to respect ourselves, the club and our fans and show the courage and that we believe in ourselves to win against the best team in the world. I think we did that."
When he took over the reigns at Brighton, De Zerbi says qualifying for Europe was not in his mind.
Learning about his players and the English Premier League was his main focus.
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But with just a game left in their season, Brighton have achieved the seemingly impossible under the Italian, qualifying for Europe for the first time in their history, while playing some brilliant football.
"At the beginning I didn’t put my focus on the target of the Europa League. I had to analyse the players, learn about the Premier League and to understand the new country," he added.
"But step by step I started to think about our potential and in February it was clear in my head that we could fight for a big target."
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