Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi refused to be drawn in on whether Pascal Gross should have been sent off in their draw against Liverpool.
The Reds battled to a 2-2 stalemate on the south coast in the Premier League yesterday. Simon Adringa opened the scoring for Brighton in the 20th minute but Liverpool hit back before half-time. Mo Salah struck the equalised on 40 minutes before Dominik Szoboszlai won Liverpool a penalty five minutes later. The midfielder won possession deep in enemy territory and was then dragged back by Gross inside the area.
Despite there being calls that a clear goalscoring opportunity had been denied, Gross avoided a booking. Salah struck home the spot-kick but Brighton were back on level terms when Lewis Dunk finished from a free-kick in the 78th minute.
Yet De Zerbi, speaking at his post-match press conference, reckons the Seagulls were fortunate to have had the set-piece awarded in the first place. Asked whether Gross should have stayed on the pitch, the Brighton head coach replied: “I don’t know. If you speak like this, you have to analyse the offside in the second goal of Aston Villa (of a 6-1 loss), the third goal of Aston Villa, you have to analyse last season in Palace game we scored a regular 100% goal.
“We can speak until tomorrow night and are not in 100% agreement. For me, it is finished. I spoke two minutes ago the Dunk goal in the set-piece wasn’t a foul for me. I think I am the most honest when I come to speak with you.”
On the result, De Zerbi said: “It’s a good point. I think in the 90 minutes we played better than Liverpool, especially in the first half.
“We were losing 1-2 in the first half, we conceded two goals in a very bad way. We didn’t understand how we were losing in that moment. In general, I think it was a good game, both teams played well.”
