Ansu Fati and Tariq Lamptey are set to be out for three months to add to Brighton ’s growing injury crisis.
Roberto De Zerbi’s side can seal qualification for the knockout stages of the Europa League by beating AEK Athens on Thursday. But the cost of a first European campaign - which started with defeat to the Greek champions back in September - has been a catalogue of injuries which already includes Danny Welbeck, Solly March and Pervis Estupinan.
Both on-loan Barcelona star Fati and Ghana defender Lamptey limped out in the first half of the weekend Premier League win over Nottingham Forest.
And De Zerbi reported: “Ansu and Lamptey are both injured. We've lost them for a long time. The focus is on the players who can play tomorrow. We will have enough to compete. I don't know if we will win but we will fight to win the game.”
This Group B clash is played against the backdrop of a row between Great Britain and Greece over the Elgin Marbles. But Italian De Zerbi is blissfully unaware of stolen sculptures and cancelled meetings. In Italy we fight with all countries but I don’t know about this,” he laughed.
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West Ham got a warm reception at Olympiacos last month and AEK will be out if they lose tomorrow. But De Zerbi showed more diplomatic nous in the build-up than Rishi Sunak
“We know AEK Athens fans are hot and it is an honour to play in this stadium,” he said.
Brighton will have to show cooler heads than at Forest when captain Lewis Dunk was sent off for abusing Anthony Taylor and De Zerbi lost his marbles in his post-match celebrations. But the Italian said: “Lewis is 32 years old. I think he doesn’t need to learn or to improve his attitude or to control himself or his emotions. He made a mistake.”
De Zerbi, who claimed earlier this month that he doesn’t like “80 percent of English referees, added: “I believe in the referees. Because otherwise I can go to Italy tomorrow.”
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