Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Marseille (14 Dec, 2023) Game Analysis

Joao Pedro's late goal earned Brighton & Hove Albion a dramatic 1-0 win over Marseille on Thursday to secure the hosts top spot in Europa League Group B.

Both teams went into the final day of the group stage assured of a place in the next round, but Brighton needed all three points to progress to the knockout stages as leaders.

Marseille will progress to the elimination rounds after finishing two points behind Brighton with 11. This year was the first time Brighton had played in a European competition in their 122-year history.

Pedro scored two minutes from time off a pass from Pascal Gross with a superb shot into the top left corner to delight the home crowd. The Brazilian has scored six goals in six matches at the tournament.

Marseille came close to taking the lead with two shots hitting the uprights at the start of each half.

In the other group match, Ajax won 3-1 at AEK Athens to finish third and qualify for the Europa Conference League knockout playoffs.

The draw for the knockout stages of the round of 16, bringing together the eight finalists from the Europa League groups and the eight teams ranked third in the Champions League group stage, will be made on Monday.