Julio Enciso scored a stunning goal to help Brighton produce one of the close football results of the weekend in the Premier League. The 19-year-old’s fierce drive, which bent the ball into the top corner from 25 yards, was comparable to but maybe even better than the long-range wonder goal he scored in his team’s victory against Chelsea last month. With just over 10 minutes remaining, Erling Haaland, who had set up Phil Foden’s goal in the 25th minute, appeared to have given City the victory when he overcame a series of squandered opportunities to head the ball in at the back post. To the chagrin of Pep Guardiola, the goal was disallowed when VAR instructed referee Simon Hooper to inspect the pitchside monitor and discover that Levi Colwill had pulled his shirt, helping the Norwegian scorer.
It would have been unfair to the Brighton squad after Danny Welbeck struck the crossbar during an exciting game and two of their own goals were rightfully disallowed. The team of Roberto De Zerbi had a whopping 20 shots against the top team in England. Before Wednesday, no opponent had ever scored more than 13 goals against City in the Premier League. Only two teams have ever scored more against a Guardiola-managed team.
This season, Brighton achieved a historic feat thanks to their front-foot, upbeat style of play, and its supporters are now anxiously expecting a European tour. They’ve locked up sixth place. They broke Man City’s streak of 12 straight Premier League victories with the point, but the visitors, who celebrated their championship triumph with a party on Sunday night, have their sights set on the FA Cup and Champions League finals. They currently have an eight-point lead over Arsenal, their closest rival.
Before the game began, Brighton presented a guard of honor to Manchester City, and it appeared like they were showing them too much respect early on. Guardiola’s team had about 85% of the ball in the first 15 minutes of play, at which time Haaland missed a wonderful opportunity from Foden’s cross. He surprisingly lost another opportunity created by his teammate in minute 21 as well.
Welbeck had already sent a beautiful free kick against the crossbar at that point, alerting Brighton of what they might do with the ball themselves. However, Man City seized the lead when Haaland displayed the opposite side of his performance. Near the midway point, the home team’s defense loosened up, allowing him to spin away from Jan Paul van Hecke and run into vast amounts of space. After committing Jason Steele, Haaland then selflessly squared for Foden to complete the play. That was the striker’s eighth assist of the year, and Foden celebrated scoring his sixth goal against Brighton, more than against any other team.
Brighton had an excellent response. Prior to Facundo Buonanotte’s score against Stefan Ortega signaling a change in momentum, Kaoru Mitoma had the ball in the net but it was correctly ruled out for a blatant handball. Enciso’s long-range attack firmly proved the point. It was a goal that the Paraguayan player and Brighton supporters will remember for years to come. Welbeck thought he had turned things around for Brighton when he scored from a tight angle shortly after, but an offside flag meant he was denied for the second time in the half.
After a frantic 45 minutes, Man City returned from the break with what appeared to be something to prove. Within minutes of the game’s restart, Haaland attempted a fantastic scissor kick, Ilkay Gundogan missed with an effort, and replacement Cole Palmer put Steele to the test. However, Brighton’s assurance and dominance were obvious as Evan Ferguson and Mitoma twice came within inches of scoring for the visitors. However, what had been an end-to-end struggle was slowed down by a number of adjustments made by both sides. Instead, there were dramatic glimmers. One was fizzed by Pervis Estupinan barely past the goal. Haaland then believed he had won it, but Colwill’s shirt pulling had properly resulted in his denial.
Brighton had previously lost 10 of their previous 11 Premier League contests versus Man City, but under De Zerbi, Brighton is a totally different club. At the end of the game, when they were celebrating their finest season, the connection between him, his players, and the fans was obvious.
For more football results, click here
