Fabian Hurzeler holds “huge respect” for Brighton players who stepped up in their 4-3 loss to Manchester City on penalties in the fourth round of the 2026-27 Carabao Cup.
Brighton led twice through goals from Malick Yalcouye and Georginio Rutter but were twice pegged back by hosts, Man City at the Etihad Stadium, as Mateo Kovacic and Vitor Reis brought City level in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
City eventually prevailed in the shootout after Brighton’s Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk saw penalties saved by Geronimo Rulli, after City’s fourth spot-kick dispatched by Kovacic was saved by Jason Steele.
“It’s not always easy, so therefore I will never complain if someone misses a penalty,” commented Hurzeler as he refused to get too down-heartened as he credited his five players who stepped up in the shootout. “I have huge respect for anyone who steps up and takes a penalty.”
Hurzeler though admitted that there was some disappointment nevertheless after his Seagulls had led twice in the match.
Of course, we are all disappointed. I think the game was there for us. In the end, losing a penalty shootout is always 50-50, but of course it’s a brutal feeling,” bemused Hurzeler whose focus is now on a Premier League trip to City on Saturday 31 October.
“But we have to lift ourselves up. We have to show character now because in three days we are back here, and then we want to finish this game with a different feeling.”
Hurzeler also believed that the luck was ultimately with City and the important lessons is to just be much better in certain aspects of their play.
“I think the first goal from City happened because they were one man up, and the second goal was a deflected shot, so that’s also football. The moments were on their side, not on our side,” acknowledged Hurzeler.
“We take positive things away. We wanted to win but in the end you sometimes need a little bit of luck. We didn’t have it so that’s what we have to accept. We have to analyse it, we have to do certain things better, and then we come back again.”
Leave a Reply