Nigeria duo Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi featured in Fulham’s Premier League opener against Brighton.
Brighton took the lead in the 55th minute. The Seagulls were awarded a penalty following Sander Berge’s foul on Georginio Rutter.
Matthew O’Riley stepped up and put it past Bernd Leno. The game looked like Brighton were going to walk away with the three points until super sub Rodrigo Muniz equalized in stoppage time to break the hearts of the home fans.
The goal came from a corner which Lewis Dunk failed to clear properly. He touched the ball, it fell to Muniz, who fired it into the bottom corner — giving Bart Verbruggen no chance.
Brighton were the better side. They had 10 shots with four on target and an expected goals (xG) value of 1.48, while Fulham had 0.76 xG, seven shots, and two on target.
Super Eagles midfielder Iwobi was decent. He played 66 minutes.
The 29-year-old ran a distance of 7.1 kilometers with a top speed of 29.8 km/h. He made three passes into the final third, delivered two accurate crosses, and completed two long balls.
Bassey operated at left-back and played the full 90 minutes. He covered a distance of 9.8 km, running at a speed of 32.4 km/h.
He was top-notch in attack, providing nine passes into the final third, three accurate long balls, and completing one successful dribble. Defensively, he was decent — making two clearances and four ball recoveries.
Following the draw, Fulham’s head coach Marco Silva described it as a dramatic tie:
“Another dramatic game away from home against Brighton. Last season was a late goal from them – this season for us. Three seasons ago was the same – we scored in the last minute of the game too.”
He went further to describe the game as balanced, showing content with a point:
“It wasn’t the most amazing game from either side in terms of performance. The game was very balanced in the first half. I think our first 25 minutes were at a good level with some dangerous moments, although no clear-cut chances.
“Second half started the same way. The only difference that made an impact on the game was the penalty.
“Until then, the game was more or less the same – very balanced. The penalty changed the dynamic of the game and boosted their confidence. They had some offensive transitions and counter-attacks, while we had some good chances.
“We showed fighting spirit and the belief that we were capable of at least equalising. Looking overall at the game, I think the draw was a deserved point for both teams. I think it’s a fair result.”
On the contrary, Brighton’s coach Fabian Hürzeler didn’t like the result, as he felt his team should have held on for the win:
“For sure it feels painful, but I think it’s important to take the positive things away – we played a really good game, we defended really well.
“For their goal, it’s more about avoiding conceding the corner. Sometimes teams have a player in the right place and that’s what happened – we couldn’t defend it. We have to accept it.
“Before their goal, I don’t think Fulham had a really clear chance, and in the second half we should have scored a second goal and the game would have been over.
“That’s football. It doesn’t feel great now, but we have to be positive about the many good things we did and work on improving for next week’s game.”
