Roberto De Zerbi has said his team’s motivation couldn’t be any higher as they look to put right last week’s humbling defeat at Roma.
The Italian will need his team to overcome a 4-0 deficit if they’re to progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League – a scoreline no team has comeback from in the knockout stages of this competition.
“We have a big motivation but not just for tonight, for every game and competition. we have to answer on the pitch though, because if we answer with words and discussion, it’s not right. We have to play and believe on the pitch.
“I think the people have to remember the players, because if we win or lose our players reached the Europa League and it was an incredible target to achieve. Then for tonight we want to play well, we want to play much better than the Roma game, then we will see the result.
“My focus is on the players and they were very sad, very frustrated after the [first leg] defeat. We had the same chances to score in the Roma game, but Roma deserved to win. We didn’t play our style. It can be possible because we are not used to playing in such a big competition.
“It wasn’t the true Brighton that we showed. It was a different Brighton. But the players that played in Roma we know can play much better and our focus is to play as Brighton.
“We are not a big, big team, but we are not what we showed in Roma.”
The head coach has called on his team to show their clinical edge.
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“In the last five games we didn’t score too many goals, but we created a lot of chances to score and I have to be focused on improvement to score more goals," he added.
"We can make mistakes in the last 15, 20, 25 metres, but my work is to help the players to create the chances but it's the players play on the pitch.
“I can help them to create the situation and one-v-one in the winger position, to receive the ball inbetween the lines, but then it’s the players’ work [to score].”