Roberto De Zerbi returns to Italy for Brighton’s fairytale tie with Roma

Brighton’s European adventure will once again tread new ground this week but not Roberto De Zerbi. While the chairman, Tony Bloom, was among the 3,500 fans who have made the pilgrimage to the Eternal City for Thursday’s Europa League tie against Roma, a first meeting with Serie A opposition, their manager is no stranger to Italian stadiums and returns to his homeland with his stock higher than ever.

No matter that Brighton have gone three games without a win and come into the Europa League last‑16 tie with several absences through injury including their star winger Kaoru Mitoma. It is their manager who is the visitors’ main attraction, although De Zerbi rejected his opposite number Daniele De Rossi’s description of him as “a genius” when he held court at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday evening.

“No I don’t see myself as a genius,” he said. “I don’t think I’m better than others but I’m not scared to work hard and don’t lack courage. What probably makes a difference is my passion for football. I don’t see myself as smarter than anyone else. I am very honest about this. But I’m not scared to try something if I believe it. I do not think of negative consequences.”

That has been evident since De Zerbi was brought in to replace Graham Potter in October 2022, with Brighton confounding expectations last season by finishing sixth and managing to cope with the departures of the key midfielders Moisés Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister in the summer. But while he insisted the Premier League remains a priority, De Zerbi also acknowledged a club that was playing in League One as recently as 2011 should savour their remarkable progress as they prepare to play in front of 70,000 fans at the venue for the 1960 Olympic Games.

“We are here not only to reach the last eight but because we are writing history,” he said. “It is something unprecedented that makes the club and supporters proud. I am very proud to be back here with my team. I usually fall in love with my teams and my players. But this is a team I really love, a team who can lose 3-0, can be trashed and overwhelmed but you have to look at the level of this team and they always bounce back with pride and hunger.”

Whether this could be the culmination of the 44-year-old’s spell in charge on the south coast is a question most Brighton supporters are dreading having to answer. Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United were all linked with a potential move for De Zerbi at the end of the season, although they would reportedly have to pay upwards of £12m in compensation as his current deal expires in 2026.

Bloom, who saw head of recruitment Sam Jewell become the 11th player or staff member to move to Stamford Bridge in the last 18 months since Potter began the trend, will almost certainly be planning for the future already regardless of what unfolds over the next few weeks. Yet De Zerbi insisted several times that he is happy at Brighton, even if the former Foggia, Palermo and Sassuolo coach did not rule out a return to Serie A in the future.

Former teammates and key players for Brighton Moisés Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister are now battling it out at Chelsea and Liverpool respectively. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

“It’s not true that I don’t think about it,” he said. “Usually I do what makes me happy and right now that’s to be where I am. I am lucky to compete with this team at this level. It makes me happy when we win but when we lose it is something special. One day I will go back to Italy. I don’t know when it will come. But when I made the choice to go to Shakhtar I did it because I wanted to find a way outside Italy. Without going into too many details, there were some things in Italy I didn’t like. I decided to do something else.”

De Rossi, who took over from José Mourinho as Roma’s interim coach in January and has led them to four straight wins in all competitions, had earlier revealed that his daughter Gaia has become friendly with De Zerbi’s daughter Elizabeth after they both studied in London.he said:

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“He was born to be a coach,” De Zerbi said of the former midfielder. “I was talking to him before he was coaching Spal and I was sure he would become a great coach. He has personality and charisma, everything a coach needs. I am happy he is doing well, changing a team that was already good and getting very good results.”

Yet that friendship will be put to one side on Thursday as Brighton attempt to continue their fairytale run that has already taken their supporters on a whirlwind tour of some of Europe’s most famous cities.

“We will see tomorrow about the stadium but we have won at Old Trafford and drawn away against Marseille this season,” De Zerbi said. “It’s going to be a test but I think this should motivate us and give us an extra boost. I’ve been coaching for 10 years and this is the team where the players are most similar to me in terms of how they fight for everything and never give up.”