Roberto De Zerbi refused to predict how Brighton’s Europa League match against AEK Athens would go: “I am Italian and you know that Italian coaches do not speak about predictions.”
De Zerbi will guide Brighton to their first-ever European fixture on Thursday when the Seagulls host AEK Athens at Falmer Stadium. It won’t be De Zerbi’s European debut as the Italian tactician already led Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in 2021-22.
The former Sassuolo tactician spoke at a press conference on Wednesday but refused to predict the result of tomorrow’s game and how the match would go.
“I am Italian and you know that Italian coaches do not speak about predictions,” said RDZ as quoted by BBC.
His Brighton side beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday, but De Zerbi warned his players ahead of their historic European fixture: “The game in Manchester is finished and we have to only think of the next game against Athens, and then Bournemouth. We need to keep the result, to keep the good emotions but forget the other things.
“I will repeat what I said to the players on Sunday morning. The challenge this year is to forget the game played the day before and focus only on the next game.”
De Zerbi has recently completed his first year at Brighton, winning 23 of his 44 games in charge of the Premier League side. Brighton have scored 101 goals during De Zerbi’s tenure conceding 69.