Only one mattered to a Brighton fan
He told head coach Roberto De Zerbi: “Can we beat Chelsea?The call drew laughter and applause from the crowd, two days after a 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth ended De Zerbi’s side’s hopes of qualifying for Europe.
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The fan added: “Like the way we did the hostile scenario here for Crystal Palace (in a 4-1 home win in February). Can we also make the scenario hostile for Chelsea, involve more police, send the bill to Todd Boehly?, because when they gave us the Carabao Cup (draw at Stamford Bridge), they raised the tickets (prices).
It was a snapshot of how Chelsea, aside from the enduring rivalry with Palace, has the team that Brighton enthusiasts need to beat. The fans didn’t get the result they needed, but there was a hostile undercurrent to Chelsea’s 2-1 win at the Amex on Wednesday night.
Former Brighton duo Moises Caicedo and Marc Cucurella, popular with fans when they played for the club, were booed every time they touched the ball. The most powerful joy of the night came when Caicedo cautioned in the 79th minute for a foul on Julio Enciso.
Cucurella, the last player to leave the pitch with Chelsea teammate Thiago Silva, was the target of discourteous insults from the home crowd during the match and after the final whistle.
It was not like that. In fact, until the last two seasons, it had never been like this. Prior to the 2017-18 season, Brighton’s first in the Premier League, the teams had not faced each other in just 30 years.
Brighton worked in the lower divisions during this period, homeless and fighting for a new stadium. Chelsea? They won trophies. The Champions League in 2012 (they recovered it in 2021), the Premier League five times, the FA Cup six times (they recovered it in 2018), the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (1998), the Europa League in 2013 (and again in 2019) and the League Cup 4 times.
The clubs were polar opposites, but Brighton reached a point where enthusiasts bitterly view Chelsea as enemies due to the way players, training and recruitment were ruthlessly driven from the Amex to Stamford Bridge – 11 in total in 21 months.
American businessman Boehly and his consortium, after ending Roman Abramovich’s 19-year reign at Chelsea in May 2022, took a look at the Brighton model, liked what they saw and thought: “We’ll have some”, back and forth.
All with Spanish left-back Cucurella in August 2022. Head coach Graham Potter travelled to west London the following month with five members of his team backstage. In November of the same year, head of recruitment, Paul Winstanley, joined Chelsea as co-sporting director.
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Then, midfielder Caicedo and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez were sold to Chelsea in last summer’s transfer window, Caicedo for a record £115m ($146m) payout. Sam Jewell, Winstanley’s successor as head of recruitment, recently began running for Chelsea’s director of recruitment. Global recruitment after an era of gardening leave since his resignation from Brighton in February.
The deals have been smart for Brighton’s bank balance (over £225m in total) but they’re also smart for stability (even if effective succession plans have kept the club moving upwards). Fans are now watching Chelsea, reveling in their failures.
The atmosphere is fierce for Potter’s quick return to Amex in October 2022. The home fans were pleased with the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea, which gave De Zerbi his first win as Potter’s successor after six games.
De Zerbi still remembers it well and told his team that “we have to start winning in another way, they will fire us and we will be back in Italy” and how the atmosphere meant that “in the first 10 minutes of the game our players were ferocious. “
Wednesday night’s encounter was Chelsea’s first stop since then. The teams had met three times at Stamford Bridge in the past 19 months, sharing wins on both sides of Brighton’s 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat in September.
Chelsea then lost the final to Liverpool at Wembley 1-0 in extra time. Brighton owner and chairman Tony Bloom and chief executive Paul Barber wore red ties for the occasion; Barber said that relations between the respective hierarchies remained cordial.
The last most significant encounter for Chelsea reached seventh place in the standings, competing with Newcastle United and Manchester United for qualification for the Europa League or Conference League after a defeat in thirteen league games with Mauricio Pochettino, who took over in July. Brighton’s incentive is modest in comparison, but 3 problems would necessarily secure a third consecutive top-10 finish.
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De Zerbi does not see clubs as rivals on the field. “We are not at the same point as Chelsea,” he said. “If we lose 11 players and coaches to Chelsea, we can’t be a rival because they are fighting for a goal. If they bring our players it is because Tony Bloom looks very good and we paint very well on the field. Moises Caicedo, Levi Colwill on loan, the last two players who were at Brighton and then Chelsea are two of the most sensible. gamblers.
Brighton fans are less charitable. ” Marc Cucurella, you know what you are,” they chanted after a winning play from Facundo Buonanotte in his own area on Cucurella ended with referee Michael Salisbury overturning his initial decision to award Chelsea an early penalty. .
Caicedo, with white hair to match his white boots, a simple white. The same goes for Cucurella, with her long locks and neon orange shoes. Far from cowering, he seemed to relish the role of villain, offering the cross for Cole Palmer to deftly lead Chelsea into the lead in the first half.
Brighton finished sixth last season to qualify for the Europa League, six places and 18 points above Chelsea. This time, the ball is on the other side. Visiting fans shouted, “We’re all going on a European tour,” after substitute Christopher Nkunku doubled his lead in the second half.
Danny Welbeck’s 98th-minute reaction, with Chelsea reduced to 10 men thanks to Reece James irritably sending off Joao Pedro after being fouled by the Brazilian, went too far to affect the result.
Brighton, ravaged by injuries during the season, are looking to beat Welbeck’s former club Manchester United at the Amex on Sunday to secure a 10th-place finish after a drop in results and a fight for goals in the calendar year.
As for the fans, they will appreciate renewing the new with Chelsea next season.
(Top photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC Getty Images)
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Andy Naylor worked for 32. 5 years in sports for The Argus, Brighton’s newspaper. For more than 25 years, he has been a leading sports journalist, mainly responsible for covering Brighton and Hove Albion FC. Follow Andy on Twitter@AndyNaylorBHAFC