Brighton news: ‘Bringing European football to Brighton was massive’

Danny Welbeck says Brighton “paid the price with the first leg” defeat but they “have to be proud” of what they’ve achieved in their debut European season.

The Seagulls forwards told TNT Sports: “The lads gave 100%, but it’s difficult obviously with the first leg.

“It’s very difficult to take that defeat. We paid the price with the first leg. We knew we could get a result in front of the fans tonight but it was too much to do.

“We’ve got a lot of very good players that are out [injured] as well. With the squad, we have to be proud of ourselves and we did the best that we can do.

We want to keep improving and progressing as a team and as a club. There’s a great culture at the club. We’re going to do our best to get back to playing in these competitions.

“Brighton [being in the Europa League] is historical. It’s their first time in Europe, so bringing European football to Brighton was massive in itself, but there are some steps we need to take to keep bring European football to Brighton.”