Roberto De Zerbi thinks Brighton did not deserve to be defeated against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final and the Italian manager also believes that his side were superior again in the Premier League on Thursday night.
United visited the Amex Stadium to play Brighton less than two weeks after the sides met in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and Erik ten Hag, speaking ahead of the clash, agreed that result would serve as extra motivation for the opposition.
Brighton are enjoying a fine season with De Zerbi in charge and they looked sharp in the opening stages, although chances were being created at both ends and both sides would have been disappointed not to have scored at half-time.
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United had opportunities to lead in the game, but Brighton were the better side in the second half and they eventually found a breakthrough in the depths of injury time when VAR awarded a penalty for a handball on Luke Shaw in the box.
Shaw had been excellent until that moment, but the ball struck his hand and Alexis Mac Allister converted from the spot.
After the final whistle, De Zerbi reflected on his team's performance and he claimed that Brighton had been superior in both of their recent games against United. "Really happy and delighted for the performance and result," he told Sky Sports.
"There is a God of football. We deserved to win the semi-final but lost on penalties but today we won with a penalty. In both games I think we played better than United. The last result was unfair. It was a very tough moment [penalty].
"I preferred not to see. We played a fantastic game, we dominated the game. My players deserved to win. We are to play another six games, six very tough games. Monday we play the first tough game against Everton and we have to win.
"If we don't win against them we will lose these three points."
Although they have a game in hand, United are now just four points ahead of Liverpool.
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