Joao Pedro's Last-Minute Goal Hands Brighton Victory Over Manchester United

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Fabian Hurzeler praised Joao Pedro after the forward netted a late winner for Brighton and Hove Albion against Manchester United. Joao Pedro scored from Simon Adingra's cross in the 95th minute, securing a 2-1 victory in Saturday's Premier League match.

This win marked Brighton's second consecutive victory this season. They had previously defeated Everton 3-0 last weekend. Hurzeler has thus begun his tenure with back-to-back wins and felt his team deserved their latest triumph over Manchester United.

Earlier in the game, Danny Welbeck opened the scoring for Brighton at the 32-minute mark. Amad Diallo equalised for Manchester United an hour into the match. Brighton regained control after Alejandro Garnacho's goal was disallowed by VAR at 1-1.

Discussing Joao Pedro's decisive goal, Hurzeler told BBC Sport: "I think Joao is a player who can decide the game with one action. For me, it was impressive today how he worked against the ball. He had the belief he would score and that's something that makes him special."

No player on the pitch at Amex Stadium managed more than Joao Pedro's two shots on target, matching team-mate Welbeck. His expected goals (xG) value stood at 0.52, marking his third goal in four league encounters with Manchester United.

Manchester United’s Late Game Struggles

Since the 2022-23 season, Manchester United have lost more Premier League games due to goals scored in the 90th minute or stoppage time than any other team (six). In contrast, they had only lost two such games in the first 30 seasons of the competition combined.

Brighton have now won seven Premier League matches against Manchester United since the start of the 2017-18 season. Only Manchester City have won more games (eight) against United during this period.

Hurzeler expressed pride in his team's performance: "I'm very proud of the team. They showed the value of never giving up and that's very important to me." He added that while it was an emotional win, he believed Brighton deserved their victory despite some chances for United to win.

"It was a very emotional [win]," Hurzeler said. "Always when you get the win in the last minute it is. I think we deserved to win. We had a good game, not a perfect game. There were also situations where United had the chance to win the game."

"After their offside goal, I think we started to control the game again. In the end, I think we deserved to win," Hurzeler concluded.