The media review: Ajax

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How the websites and papers reviewed Thursday's historic victory.

Nick Szczepanik

2023-10-27T09:52:00Z

Kaoru Mitoma at full stretch in the 2-0 win against Ajax.

Albion’s performance in our first win in European competition, 2-0 against Ajax, was showered with praise by reporters – once they had finished pinching themselves.

It was not so much the fact that Roberto De Zerbi’s men were playing the Amsterdam giants at all – although, as Paul Hayward wrote in the i paper, “Brighton v Ajax was always the fixture that would symbolise how far Sussex’s Premier League club have come” – as the style and panache with which victory was achieved.

Paul MacInnes set the tone in The Guardian, writing: “Brighton gave Ajax a footballing lesson here. Let’s run that again: Brighton, a club that spent 34 years outside the English top flight before their return in 2017, took the inventors of modern football, the mighty Ajax, to school under the floodlights of Falmer. It’s the sort of occasion you’d imagine Brighton fans won’t have difficulty recalling in future, regardless of where this European tour ends up.

“A first-half goal from Joao Pedro was followed shortly after the break by one from Ansu Fati to wrap up this match but the home side’s dominance was not truly captured by the scoreline, nor even by the 62% of possession they held.

“Instead, the gap between these two sides was marked by the ease with which the hosts went about their work: always composed, always calm, always with the ball under control. As debut European victories go, it was assured.”

In the Daily Telegraph, chief football writer Sam Wallace wrote: “The great Ajax have won the European Cup four times, while Brighton are yet to play four games in UEFA competition, although on this night there was no question as to which side upheld the venerable Dutch tradition of passing football.

“That was upwardly-mobile Brighton, winning their first game in European competition in the club’s history. On the touchline Roberto De Zerbi enjoyed this little piece of Brighton history, delivered with the swagger of a team who liked the ball at their feet.

“Joao Pedro, the Brazilian striker, and then later Ansu Fati, on loan from Barcelona, scored the goals that made this a remarkably smooth win for Brighton. One struck post aside it was hard to recall anything of note from Ajax.

“Watching Ajax sit deep trying to thwart a Brighton team with all the meaningful possession is a stark reminder of how the landscape of European football has been changed by the Premier League’s wealth. Even so, one has to spend it wisely, which Brighton have done.”

According to Jack Rosser of The Sun, “Roberto De Zerbi’s side played European greats Ajax off the park as Joao Pedro and fellow summer signing Ansu Fati put an end to their run of five without a win to spark their Europa League campaign into life.

“This is no great Ajax side, sitting 17th in the Eredivisie and without a manager, but the four times European Cup winners have quite the history –and Brighton dominated them throughout.

“After two frustrating opening games in the competition, when everyone knew this team was capable of far more, De Zerbi’s side found their feet here and moved off the bottom of Group B. These were the nights the Sussex faithful had been dreaming of, not just a special occasion because there was European football at The Amex, but a statement performance to go with it.

“Brighton can now look ahead to the three return fixtures and, on this form, look to blitz their way through the group. Pedro had bagged three goals in his first two Europa League games before tonight, all three from the spot. This time he showed his sharp side in the box to race in and turn Mitoma’s parried strike home on 43 minutes.

“Brighton doubled their lead minutes later with the kind of glorious goal you would have expected from an Ajax side in their pomp. Billy Gilmour slipped a smart pass into the feet of [Simon] Adingra, who turned before chopping inside his man with a back heel and clipping the ball forward for Fati. The on-loan Barcelona wonderkid took one touch before finishing through the legs of Josip Sutalo, making it two in two after his goal at The Etihad on Saturday.

“Brighton were never in danger, making Ajax chase them around for the final 15 minutes, a sight no fan would ever have expected to see.”

Tom Roddy of The Times enjoyed Fati’s goal so much that it led his report: “A cute touch with his left boot, then a clinical one with his right and Ajax were down and out. This was a goal made in La Masia, the famous academy of Barcelona, made for nights such as this, against European giants like this, yet Ansu Fati surely hadn’t expected it to come in the blue and white of Brighton & Hove Albion.

“It was Brighton’s second of a historic night. Neither side of the aisle would have expected this a few years ago. The mighty Ajax are used to playing on pitches where football is a form of artistry, yet usually they are the producers. Instead, Roberto De Zerbi’s side gave the deeply troubled team from Amsterdam a footballing lesson as the four-times Champions League winners failed to be effective in a jarringly defensive performance.

“João Pedro scored the other goal for a flowing Brighton, but their performance was worthy of so many more, yet meant the English club’s hopes of qualifying for the Europa League’s knockout stage are still firmly alive as victory lifted them up to third in group B.”

Matt Barlow of the Daily Mail detected rumblings among the visiting fans in the south stand. “Against all their principles, the Dutch aristocrats came to Sussex to take on a team playing only its third tie in European football, sat deep, surrendered possession and hit their hosts on the break,” he wrote. “Enough to make [Johan] Cruyff turn in his grave, you might say.

“As the game meandered towards its conclusion, angry fans in the away end made their feelings clear but take nothing from Brighton on their historic night. They controlled this game with some degree of maturity, showed patience when it was required and sought to keep playing the sort of intricate and attractive football they have become renowned for under De Zerbi.

“Finally, they are on the move in Group B and with the return trip to Amsterdam next up, in two weeks, they will detect a chance to progress.”