João Pedro and Fati fire Brighton to first European victory against ailing Ajax

Brighton gave Ajax a footballing lesson here. Let’s run that again: Brighton, a club that spent 34 years outside the English top flight before their return in 2017, took the inventors of modern football, the mighty Ajax, to school under the floodlights of Falmer. It’s the sort of occasion you’d imagine Brighton fans won’t have difficulty recalling in future, regardless of where this European tour ends up.

A first half goal from João Pedro was followed shortly after the break by another one from Ansu Fati to wrap this match up. The Seagulls had a couple of other decent chances, too, but their dominance was not truly captured by the scoreline, nor even by the 66% of possession they enjoyed. Instead, the gap between these two sides was marked by the ease with which the hosts went about their work: always composed, always calm, always with the ball under control. This was as true of the centre-half Jan Paul van Hecke as it was of the midfielder Pascal Gross.

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