JOAO HITS SPOT

Striker's pen seals plucky comeback

- RYAN TAYLOR

MARSEILLE 2

BRIGHTON 2

ROBERTO DE ZERBI’s Brighton heroes fought back from 2-0 down at half-time to earn a point in Marseille via Joao Pedro’s 88th-minute penalty.

The Seagulls stood tall in the face of adversity after a catastrophic 90-second spell inside the opening 20 minutes – which included a wretched Lewis Dunk mistake – threatened to mar the club’s first ever European away fixture.

Defeat would have left Brighton with a mountain to climb, but their hopes of knockout qualification are still alive following this valiant fightback kick-started by Pascal Gross before Pedro’s late leveller. 

De Zerbi said: “I’m really proud of the performance today for my players after the 6-1 defeat at Villa Park.