'Europa League knockout stage is another club milestone'

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Chief executive and deputy chairman delighted with Albion's progress in Europe.

Charlie Hanson

2023-12-01T09:00:00Z

Albion qualified for European competition for the first time this season.

Paul Barber has hailed Albion's progress from the group stages of the Europa League as another ‘milestone’ in the club’s history.

A 1-0 win against AEK Athens on Thursday confirmed at least a second place finish in Group B, with our final game of the group stage against Marseille to decide who tops the group.

“It was a fantastic night in Athens, the atmosphere was absolutely incredible,” Barber said. “I thought our fans were fantastic to get themselves heard above the noise in the stadium. But what a mature performance. We weren’t at our fluid best, but in terms of our performance in Europe it was a really special night for us.

“It’s another milestone and I am sure Roberto [De Zerbi] will say that there’s plenty of work to do. There’s another important game to come in the group – we want to try and win that and qualify as group winners.

“But it’s another step and a great show of maturity to come to a place like this and not only get a win but a clean sheet with a very young team again.”

The victory makes it back-to-back wins for De Zerbi’s team having beaten Nottingham Forest on Saturday, which Barber puts down to the spirit around the club.

“There’s a great spirit and a great togetherness. We don’t just feel it inside the club, we feel it outside too with the fans. You see the way the coaches and staff appreciate the support that they get and they want to share those special moments," he added.

“Our celebrations at Forest might have seemed a little bit out of context to people that didn’t really understand what a difficult period we’ve been through, but not winning in the Premier League since the end of September, picking up so many injuries, playing with ten men at the City Ground, that result was as much about a release of energy and relief as it was just celebrating the win itself.

“As Roberto said, there was no disrespect meant towards Steve Cooper or Nottingham Forest but again it’s an example of the togetherness. You saw it at the end of Thursday night's game, the players and staff wanted to celebrate with the fans in Athens and I thought that was fantastic.”

Albion may look to recruit during the January transfer window because of the lengthy injury list, according to Barber.

“[It’s under] constant review and we will be sitting down with Roberto, his staff and the chairman to decide what we need to do in January.

“There’s always a tendency to think you need to do more than you actually need to do. Then you’re left with a lot of players that you’ve got to try and keep happy for four months.

“Hopefully we’ll have come through the worst of it by the turn of the year, but we will see what we need to do, if we can and we need to, then of course we will look to strengthen.”