Pep Guardiola paid tribute to Brighton after his Manchester City side held on for a slender 2-1 win over the Seagulls in the Premier League on Saturday.
The champions looked be cruising to victory as Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland struck inside the opening 19 minutes at the Etihad Stadium but the visitors responded after the break.
Substitute Ansu Fati set up a nervy finish when he pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute and City were left clinging on when Manuel Akanji was sent off for a second bookable offence in stoppage time.
The victory stopped the rot after for City after successive league defeats prior to the international break.
“Against Brighton it’s impossible to control the game for 90, 95 minutes – no team in the world can do that,” said City manager Guardiola. “I’m surprised that we did it for 55, 60 minutes.
“We played an exceptional first half. We had more chances, we were aggressive in the link with the strikers.
“In the second half they closed the space. They are really good and when they have the ball it is almost impossible to take it. We suffered for 10, 15, 20, 25 minutes and then there was a period at the end of the game as well.
“After two defeats the performance was important but I give credit to Roberto (De Zerbi). When you see their games, his team is exceptional. They have a lot of injuries and that’s why I have pride in the team for the victory.”
To compound their defeat, Brighton saw their lengthy casualty list added to as Danny Welbeck and Solly March were forced off with muscular and knee problems respectively.
Manager De Zerbi admitted his side’s extra workload this season due to their involvement in the Europa League was taking its toll.
He said: “This is the worst thing today. We can lose Solly March for a long time and Welbeck I don’t know.
“We are playing a different sport this season. We are losing too many players. I think we are not ready to compete in this competition and we are adapting.”
De Zerbi felt his team gave a good account of themselves after a difficult start.
The Italian said: “We can speak of two parts of the game. The first part – there wasn’t the chance to play, because when City play like they do in first half it is not just very tough for Brighton but for everyone.
“But second half we played better, with more energy, courage and personality. We kept order on the pitch, especially without the ball and we had two or three chances to score again. That improvement is important.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Haaland has 'full trust' in Guardiola to halt Man City slump
Erling Haaland has "full trust" in the "best manager in the world", Pep Guardiola, to get Manchester City back on track against Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday.
Guardiola's side have lost four matches in a row across all competitions, which is the Spaniard's longest losing run in his entire managerial career.
The Citizens last lost more consecutively between March and April 2006 under Stuart Pearce (six – the fifth game of which was also against Tottenham).
But after putting pen to paper on a new two-year contract extension at the club earlier this week, Guardiola has his eyes firmly set on returning to winning ways on home soil.
And Haaland, who has scored 105 goals in 114 appearances under Guardiola at City, believes they can make up the gap to leaders Liverpool, who are five points ahead.
"When you look at what he's been doing for the club, he's not bad, is he? So he's got my full trust," Haaland told Sky Sports.
"And if he tells me something, I'd better do it because he knows the best in the end. Everyone knows that. So I'm sure he will find solutions now as well. I'm sure of that.
"[Guardiola] demands us to be at our best in every training session, in every game. And that's what we need to do. It hasn't been good enough, losing four games now, but let's try to win the next."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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