De Rossi outshines Mourinho, De Zerbi en route to ending Brighton’s UEL journey with rampant Roma

Daniele De Rossi outsmarted Roberto De Zerbi and continues to outshine Jose Mourinho as his AS Roma side brushed Brighton aside to make their Europa League exit an inevitability.

English sides finding life difficult when juggling the rigours of the Premier League and Europa League is not out of the ordinary and Brighton have been victims of this familiar trope during this season.

Saturday’s shocking 3-0 loss to Fulham means Brighton have won just five of their last 21 Premier League games and they are at risk of being reduced to mid-table mediocrity in De Zerbi’s first full season in charge after he masterminded their remarkable sixth-place finish last term.

Despite their ongoing slump in the Premier League, head coach De Zerbi is still in the conversation to join Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United in the summer while evading potential sack talk. As harsh as his dismissal would be, Brighton’s form would at least have him under pressure if he was in charge of any other club in the top flight.

Thankfully for De Zerbi, Brighton’s fun-filled journey in the Europa League has provided some much-needed respite this season and they travelled to Italy for the first leg of their tasty-looking round-of-16 tie against AS Roma on Thursday night.

The Seagulls have overcome some nervy moments to remain unbeaten on the road in the Europa League this season with wins over Ajax and AEK Athens and their enthralling 2-2 draw against Marseille.

Their match at Roma was always likely to be their toughest away game in the Europa League to date, though.

While Brighton are perhaps lacking confidence at the moment, Roma are in a jubilant mood following club legend Daniele De Rossi’s return as manager.

Appointed as Jose Mourinho’s successor, the inexperienced De Rossi has swiftly made ‘The Special One’ look like ‘The Past It One’ as his side scored 22 goals en route to winning seven of his first nine games in charge.

Mourinho is somehow the overwhelming fan favourite to replace Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea but he has now been overshadowed by a novice manager – who also happens to be a retired former player – in his last two Premier League jobs with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ryan Mason lifting the mood at Man Utd and Tottenham respectively following the exit of the Portuguese boss.

De Rossi has copied Solskjaer and Mason as his Roma players have benefited from having that Mourinho-shaped burden lifted off of them to play on the front foot while being given the freedom to express themselves.

Playing De Rossi’s side in the mood they are in was always going to ask a lot of De Zerbi’s team and the visitors succumbed to a rapid start from Roma.

The hosts sprinted out of the traps, while Brighton’s edgy players added to the belief of the home side with their careless lapses in possession.

Roma punished Brighton for their sluggish start in the opening 15 minutes as perennial Premier League target Paulo Dybala broke in behind and converted into an empty net after rounding goalkeeper Jason Steele.

The offside flag initially looked to have gifted Brighton a reprieve but those pesky VAR officials ruled in favour of Roma as the goal was eventually given.

Heading into this potentially daunting first leg, Brighton’s sole aim would have been to remain in the game heading into the return leg at the AMEX Stadium.

When Brighton conceded early, there were understandable fears that this could get messy, but the Premier League outfit started to put passes together and responded well to going behind.

The Seagulls looked to be in a solid-ish position heading into half-time but that all changed just before the interval.

A hopeful long-ball forward should have been booted into the stands by Lewis Dunk, but the England international foolishly opted to try to control it with Chelsea loanee Romelu Lukaku breathing down his neck.

Had this been a Premier League game, Lukaku would have likely made a mess of this situation but he is a different animal when playing for a Serie A side and when Dunk made a mess of his first touch, the striker stole the ball away and smashed the ball home past Steele to make it 2-0 and give Brighton a mountain to climb heading into the second half.

Brighton have already fought back from being 2-0 down to claim a miraculous draw against Marseille but a rampant Roma side ensured that history did not repeat itself on Thursday evening.

After riding out the storm of a positive start to the second-half from Brighton, Roma took the game (and tie) away from their opponents with two quickfire goals.

Defender Gianluca Mancini beat the offside trap to tap home past Steele before Roma capitalised on some more charitable defending from Brighton just four minutes later as Bryan Cristante was allowed to score from close range.

Brighton huffed and puffed but it was not meant to be as their big night in Rome ended in heartache.

Injuries have not helped Brighton’s cause, but this is now three defeats in a row and De Zerbi now has work to do before the summer if he’s to retain his reputation – alongside Xabi Alonso – as an elite coach in waiting.

But De Rossi’s dream start at Roma suggests he (and his team) are on the brink of a post-Mourinho purple patch.

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