AEK’s UEL opponents preview: Brighton and Hove Albion

AEK’s UEL opponents preview: Brighton and Hove Albion



By Nikolas Fil,


AEK is set to face French side Marseille, former Dutch champions Ajax and European debutants Brighton and Hove Albion. 


Today we are gonna preview AEK’s clash with the Seagulls, while we are also gonna talk about key players from Brighton’s squad, including their strengths and weaknesses. 


Despite selling Moises Caicedo, World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez for a combined 181 million euros fee. 


Brighton did what they are best at, they reinvested the money signing talented players including the likes of Joao Pedro from Watford for 34 million euros, Baleba from Lille for 27 million, talented goalkeeper and recently Netherlands international Bart Verbruggen for 20 million from Anderlecht and Brazilian CB Igor from Conference League finalists Fiorentina for 17 million. 


This season Brighton also focused on signing some experienced players as well like Milner, Dahoud and Barcelona winger Fati on loan.

 

Manager:Roberto De Zerbi

Roberto De Zerbi is an Italian football manager. Former footballer playing for the likes of AC Milan and Napoli. In his managerial career he has managed Palermo, Sassuolo in Serie A and of course Shakhtar Donetsk. 


Then he made the huge step to move to England and the Premier League signing for Brighton in September 2022 after Potter’s move to Chelsea. De Zerbi likes his teams to play a possession based style of football, focusing heavily on shorter build up from the goalkeeper. De Zerbi’s football managed to help Brighton finish in a European spot for the first time in the club's history, finishing above teams like Spurs and Chelsea.

 

Tactical approach

Since the arrival of De Zerbi are playing a possession based style with short passes to drag the opponents out and exploit the space behind them quickly with 4 attackers. Last season scored 73 goals from a 72.3 xG and had 65% average posession per game. This season Brighton have scored 12 goals from 9.0 xG having 62% possession per game. AEK need to be careful in defense and explore the chances they will have in attack.


Star Player: Kaoru Mitoma

Kaoru Mitoma is a 26 year old Japanese international footballer who can play as a LW/LM. He began his professional career at Kawasaki Frontale and with 50 appearances and 21 goals in 3 years, he earned a move to Brighton in 2021. 


He joined Union St-Gilloise on loan for the 2021/22 season, where he scored 7 goals in 27 appearances helping them finish 2nd in their first season in Belgium’s top flight. 


Mitoma last season scored 7 goals and had 6 assists helping Brighton finish in a European spot for the first time ever. A Japanese international he featured for Japan in the 2022 World Cup playing only 56 minutes in the 1-1 draw (1-3 defeat on penalties) against Croatia. Currently the 2nd most valuable player at Brighton at 32 million behind only newcomer Ansu Fati (35 million). 


Mitoma is a dangerous player and if AEK let him play his game, the night is gonna be long for Enosis’ Right Back.


AEK vs English oppositions

Since Brighton has never played a game in Europe, let’s take a look at AEK’s results against the English.

 

AEK have won 3 games out of 12 against English opponents, 2 of them against Derby County in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup round of 16, winning 2-0 in Greece and 2-3 in England. 


Their 3rd and final victory against an English team was against QPR. Also in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup but this time in the Quarter Finals, after they lost 3-0 in England, AEK came from 3-0 down winning 3-0 in Nea Filadelfia forcing the game to go to penalties, where they beat the English 7-6. 


Other than that, AEK has 9 defeats in 12 games, scoring 12 goals and conceding 27. The last time they faced an English team was in the 2020/21 UEL group stage, where they lost 2-1 in Athens and 2-0 in England against Leicester City.


Hellas Football 


Follow @BVBNikolas

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