Brighton host AEK Athens at the Amex for their first ever European game as the Europa League Group stage starts. The Seagulls and Athens are joined by Ajax and Marseille in a competitive Group B.
Brighton currently sit fourth in the Premier League with four wins and one loss in five games. The Seagulls opened their season against Premier League new boys Luton Town. Solly March, Joao Pedro, Simon Adingra and Evan Ferguson all scored in the 4 - 1 demolition of Luton with Carlton Morris converting a penalty late on. Brighton would win 4 - 1 yet again the next weekend, this time against Wolves. Kaoru Mitoma, Pervis Estupinan and a double from March gave Brighton the 4 - 0 lead, with Hwang Hee-chan scoring the consolation for Wolves as Matheus Nunes was sent off.
The only loss of Brighton’s season was against West Ham. James Ward-Prowse, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio gave The Hammers a 3 - 0 lead, with Pascal Gross’ late goal not enough as West Ham won 3 - 1. However, The Seagulls immediately bounced back with 3 - 1 wins against Newcastle and Manchester United. Ferguson grabbed his first hattrick for Brighton as Callum Wilson could only score in the 92nd minute for Newcastle. Most recently, former United player Danny Welbeck, Gross and Pedro all scored in the 3 - 1 win over United, with Hannibal Mejbri on the scoresheet for United.
AEK Athens currently sit in sixth in the Super League Greece after three games played. AEK have a win, a 3 - 2 win over Volos with ten men after Petros Mantalos was sent off. The other two games ended in a draw with 1 - 1 draw against Panserraikos and Olympiacos.
Athens’ qualifying run was a long journey. It started in the Third qualifying round of the Champions League qualifying where AEK drew Dinamo Zagreb. In the first leg Steven Zuber and Konstantinos Galanopoulos both scored for Athens to help them to the 2 - 1 win with Marko Bulat on the scoresheet for Zagreb. The second leg saw Zagreb take a 2 - 0 lead through Josip Sutalo and Robert Ljubicic but goals from Sergio Araujo in the 92nd minute and Domagoj Vida in the 11th minute of extra time pushed the game to a 2 - 2 draw giving Athens the 4 - 3 aggregate win.
Royal Antwerp were the opponents in the next round and Vincent Janssen scored the only goal in the 1 - 0 win in the first leg, despite Jelle Bataille’s red card. Gyrano Kerk and Michel-ANge Balikwisha both scored to give Antwerp the 2 - 1 win with Araujo scoring for Athens. This 3 -1 aggregate loss took them out of the running for the Champions League but put them straight into the Europa League Group stage.
Brighton are playing their first ever European season after their sixth place finish in the Premier League last season. However, AEK do have a storied history in European football. In the Europa League (both versions of the competition), AEK have played 184 games, with 60 wins, 46 draws and 78 losses.