Brighton and Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi said he meant no disrespect to Steve Cooper when he failed to shake the hand of the Nottingham Forest head coach before joining in jubilant celebrations at the City Ground.
De Zerbi admitted he and his Brighton players celebrated as if they had won the Champions League when the final whistle blew and the 3-2 win was celebrated.
But he insisted he had not intended to snub his opponent after an eventful game in which two penalties were awarded and Brighton’s Lewis Dunk was shown a red card in the 73rd minute.
“I would like to explain my celebration – it was no disrespect to the opponent,” said De Zerbi. “We are suffering a lot. We lost so many players to injuries. We lost two more players in the first half. We got a red card.
“We lost two points in our last game against Sheffield. We lost two points against Fulham. Our last win in the Premier League came at the end of September. That was one of the hardest moments of my career. Not just in the Premier League, but in my career. It was a big, big celebration.
“Nottingham has a big stadium, a great atmosphere and incredible fans. But I was really proud of the character and attitude we showed.
“We celebrated as if we had won the Champions League final. We didn’t win the Premier League. But the way we won the game, with ten players missing, without our captain, with players not playing in the right position…”
Cooper confirmed that De Zerbi did not shake his hand but downplayed the situation.
“To be fair, I don’t want to get too involved in it. If you ask me, I’m a British coach and I’ve always been brought up to shake hands and show respect after games. You try to win or lose gracefully,” Cooper said. “I’m not saying he didn’t do that. But if you ask me what I would do, I would always shake your hand.
“But I understand that it could be different elsewhere.”
Brighton lost Tariq Lamptey and Ansu Fati to injury in the first half, in which the visitors recovered to take a 2-1 lead after Anthony Elanga had initially given Forest a lead thanks to goals from Evan Ferguson and Joao Pedro in the third minute .
Cooper was unhappy with Brighton’s third goal, which came after referee Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty after ruling that Chris Wood was guilty of withdrawing Pedro.
Forest were subsequently awarded a penalty of their own after Callum Hudson-Odoi was brought down, but only after VAR intervention.
“The penalty decision for me is a decision where, if it’s a penalty, you’re going to give so many. “The international break gives you time to think things through and I’m really trying to think about how I’m going to do it want to be a camp of referee support and support of the process,” Cooper said.
“I try to say to myself: Let’s not jump on the bandwagon, let’s try to be rational with our thinking and our comments. But then we see this with Anthony, one of the best, and it’s hard to hold back.
“The thought that he awarded that penalty and then scored the one that was overturned caused a certain amount of hostility on the pitch and in the stadium.
“We didn’t play well enough in the first half and that was a big reason why we didn’t get the result. The penalty decision also played a big role. We need to think about why we didn’t do as well as we should have in the first half.
“He’s such a calm and collected referee, not just in our country but in the other games he referees outside the Premier League… did he lose control?” “He must have.” Cooper reckons one Interview with Howard Webb, Head of Refereeing at PGMOL.
“I’m sure I’ll call Howard. I’m sure he’ll want to call me,” Cooper said. “I will talk with him. I’ll tell him how I feel. I won’t rant and rave. But it’s clear what happened. It wasn’t just that decision, it was the lack of control.
“It wasn’t like there were a lot of experienced players out there trying to dictate the referee’s opinion. There were a lot of young players on the pitch.
“We will try to help, but we also have to stand up for our club because we can no longer make decisions like this. It will be interesting to see what he does next week when there is a little contact in the box.”
Brighton finished the game with ten men after Lewis Dunk was shown a straight red card for foul and abusive language, seconds after he was shown a yellow card for going to the VAR monitor as Taylor was adjudicating Forest’s penalty.
But De Zerbi said he would not punish the defender. “I’m not a police officer, I’m a coach,” he said. “He said he was sorry. He understood that he had made a mistake.”
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