Ansu Fati inspires Brighton to huge Europa League win away at European giants Ajax

Brighton took another big step towards the Europe League knockout stage with a comfortable 2-0 win away at Ajax.

The Seagulls are playing continental football for the first time in their history, but they played their four-time European champion opponents off the park in their own back yard.

Ajax are a side who were Champions League semi-finalists as recent as 2019 but this season has proven incredibly tough.

They sat bottom of the Eredivisie last month and decided to sack Maurice Steijn following a disastrous start to the campaign.

Brighton were not shy to capitalise on their struggles in the reverse fixture two weeks ago and did so once again on Thursday.

A poor pass from Ajax midfielder Silvano Vos allowed Simon Adingra to pass straight through to Ansu Fati.

The Barcelona loanee showed his quality by pulling off an excellent first touch and finding the bottom corner with relative ease.

Fati has now netted three goals for Brighton and also proved that he could turn provider later on in the match.

The Seagulls came out flying at the beginning of the second half and were rewarded for their efforts as Ajax lacked in defensive quality.

Fati picked up possession in the centre-circle, ran towards the box unchallenged and found Adingra, who rifled the ball into the net.

Ajax's best chance of the game came from Brian Brobbey towards the closing stages as he hit both posts of the Brighton goal.

The visitors held on for victory, their second in the Europa League to take them top of Group B with seven points from four games.

AEK Athens or Marseille could overtake them, but Brighton have put themselves in a great position to qualify out of the group.

Lewis Dunk's injury is unlikely to overshadow the result, with De Zerbi and co. still proving