Gross: I never lost my feelings for Brighton

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The German made his second Albion debut in the 2-0 win over Burnley on Saturday.

Nick Szczepanik

2026-01-05T09:45+00:00

Pascal Gross came on with 20 minutes to play against the Clarets. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Pascal Gross has described his return to Albion first-team action in the 2-0 victory over Burnley at the Amex as ‘special’ after a season and a half away with Borussia Dortmund.

The German playmaker came off the bench for his second debut after 71 minutes – around 24 hours after his signing had been confirmed – and helped keep the visitors under pressure, linking up well with teammates old and new.

“It felt really special,” he said. “I was up early because I knew it's a home game and I'm involved. I was really pleased that I could be part of the team today because for me it was a really, really important game. When I looked at the schedule, I think to start the New Year after December with a win was really important for us as a group. I just tried to be part of it and tried to help to get it done.”

The moment Der Kaiser returned... 🥹👏 pic.twitter.com/EhJIHQBeFg
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) January 4, 2026

There was no Gross turn, no assist and no goals, but there were plenty of reminders of the Germany midfielder’s ambition on the ball and ability to bring teammates into the game. And he hopes that we will not see too many differences between the player now wearing number 30 and the club’s legendary number 13.

“I'm really fit, I played a lot of games for Dortmund on a high level, Champions League and in the Bundesliga,” he said. “I have a lot of good relationships with a lot of players. But to get relationships with the new ones, it will help me to bring them to a good position and try to assist goals and try to get wins.”

Pascal had not spent many games on the bench in his previous spell with the club – only 29 of his 261 appearances were as a substitute – but watching the first hour of the Burnley game gave him a chance to see some of his new teammates in action at close quarters.

“A lot of things are the same. But then you have a new manager, new staff members, some new players. So that little bit has changed. I'm really looking forward to getting to know them, to train with them, to get to know them better and work with them on a daily basis.

“I watched nearly every game since I left when I wasn’t playing myself. I followed the club a lot so I know the players quite well. But obviously you get to know them better when you see them, but even better when you train with them. Like the detail of how players want to have the ball, how they move. But I think there's a lot of potential and if we can get the balance right between experience and some young players, if we can get the right mix, we can hurt a lot of teams.”

Pascal has highlighted home games as a chance to pick up more points. “I just hope we can win games, for example at home, quite regularly. That we don't give the opponent too much hope that they can get something, that we play active, that we defend active. For example, that we don't give them the ball too long, too much, to build confidence, to build into the game. I hope we can just challenge them and make them feel really uncomfortable here. So we pick up a lot of points and then from there I think we have a lot of quality when we win the ball to hurt them as well.

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Georginio Rutter gave Albion a first half lead, before Yasin Ayari secured the points with a clinical second half strike. Pascal Gross returned to competitive action as Fabian Hurzeler introduced him during the second half.

“We have Kaoru [Mitoma], Babis [Kostoulas], Brajan [Gruda] and then Georginio. Then on the bench, obviously it's unbelievable still. So I think we have a lot of quality to score goals. So if we can be aggressive, active and ruthless, we can be really good.”

And it was not just a happy return for Pascal to the club but also for the Gross family to the city. “They're all very happy. Like I said, I have a lot of friends here in the team as well where we have great relationships with the kids. I had a life here. My kids enjoyed it, my family. This morning I walked at the beach, had a coffee and really enjoyed to be back in the city.

“Maybe sometimes you're away six months or a year and you have the feelings getting less and less, the relationships or the connections, but it never did. I felt really related still to a lot of people, so I knew there was maybe a chance, but in the end you never know in football if it's realistic or if it makes sense for both. But in that case it did.”