Europa League performance insights: Brighton vs Roma

UEFA's analysis unit highlights how Brighton used a variety of attacking strategies in their attempt to overcome a 4-0 first-leg deficit against Roma in last week's UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg.

Brighton use both central and wide attacks in attempt to break down Roma resistance

Brighton's 1-0 victory against Roma meant the Premier League club fell short in their attempt to overcome a 4-0 deficit from the first leg of this tie. However, victory for Roberto De Zerbi's side demonstrated their varied attacking strategies.

When entering Roma's final third, the home side's preferred location of attack came via Lane One on their left-hand side. Although 25% of their final third entries were initiated on this side, there was a relatively even spread of attacks across the other lanes. The small differences in percentages in terms of attack locations underline Brighton's flexibility and variety in attack. Notably, 18% of their final third entries came via the central channel.

Although Roma remained compact and defended with a high number of players in central areas, Brighton embraced the challenge of breaking through in Lane Three. The clip above shows how left-back Pervis Estupiñán runs inside from a deep position to link up centrally with attacking midfielder Pascal Gross.

Estupiñán's trigger to run inside comes from the clever movement of Adam Lallana. As the former England midfielder drops down to contribute to Brighton's build-up play, Estupiñán senses the opportunity to run into the vacant central space. Here he is found with an intelligent through pass from Billy Gilmour, who was key to his side's build-up play throughout the tie.

De Zerbi's side progress centrally before going wide

A total of 62% of Brighton's progression into the final third came inside Roma's shape. A key feature of this attacking strategy was how De Zerbi's side used striker Danny Welbeck as a link player in central areas. The video below shows how Lallana finds the former Manchester United and Arsenal striker in a pocket of space between Roma's back line and midfield. Welbeck's clever movement and technical abilities allowed Brighton to progress into the final third in this way before playing wide to deliver crosses into the penalty box.

One of Brighton's aims of progressing play centrally was to draw their opponents narrow in order to create space to deliver crosses in wide areas. Although Roma defended excellently during the tie Brighton had success using this attacking pattern.

Gilmour uses clever 'disguise' to play through the lines

As outlined above, Brighton routinely played clever penetrative passes into the final third. Many of these deliveries were executed by the technically accomplished midfield trio of Gross, Lallana and Gilmour.

In the clip above, we see Gilmour driving with the ball through midfield before playing a penetrative pass to the feet of Welbeck. Notably, Gilmour adds an element of disguise to his pass by orienting his body towards right-back Tariq Lamptey before reversing the pass inside. This clever use of disguise momentarily affects the positioning of Lorenzo Pellegrini allowing Gilmour to make his pass into a central area.

Roma produce penalty-box masterclass to repel Brighton's central threat

Brighton's many entries into the penalty box led to a high number of first contacts in the central area of the penalty box. In the video below we see Roma's Mile Svilar produce an impressive save to repel Simon Adingra's header in Lane Three after 61 minutes. Brighton also had some success in probing in Lane Two before delivering into Lane Three.

However, much of the action in this area was a result of Daniele De Rossi's side's ability to defend their penalty box. On numerous occasions throughout the tie, the Italian side defended with nine or ten outfield players in their penalty area and were effective at getting the first and second contact to many attacking deliveries.

Although Brighton had a 67% success rate in entering Roma's penalty box, their attacking endeavour led to only a single goal. These statistics underline the defensive organisation, cohesion and aggression from De Rossi's side. At different times during the tie, Roma moved swiftly from a high-press of six players to a low-block of nine or ten. Within this there were many changes of defensive shape with the Italian side adopting a back three, four or five depending on the situation.