Roberto De Zerbi, manager of Brighton and Hove Albion, shown maturity following his team's 4-1 loss to Newcastle United.
After winning their game-in-hand match against fifth-place Liverpool, Eddie Howe's team closed the gap on Liverpool to three points, securing their place in the Champions League.
Deniz Undav's own goal gave United the early advantage before Dan Burn, playing against his former team, doubled the advantage just before halftime.
Undav gave the Seagulls a chance to tie it up, but goals from Callum Wilson and Bruno Guimaraes in the dying minutes gave them a commanding lead.
Newcastle needs just one victory from their final two Premier League contests against Chelsea and Leicester City in order to finish in the top four.
And Albion manager De Zerbi deserves every bit of credit for ending their 20-year hiatus from Europe's top league.
“Newcastle deserve to qualify for the Champions League,” said the Italian.. They won against Man United 2-0 and they deserved to win and in the first half with Arsenal they were unlucky.
“They are a strong team, a very good team. Difficult for us, especially today because we weren’t with many powerful players with energy.”
On the game, De Zebri added: “We deserved to lose the game. I don’t want to make any excuses. I think we play not good in the first half and deserved to lose the game. We concede two goals in two set-pieces but we didn’t play well."
“We know we stay in not the best condition, we have a lot of injuries, but we have the possibility to win on Sunday and before the game [against Newcastle we knew] it was a very tough game.”
"We knew before the game that it was difficult and we have to forget this day and prepare for the next game. It is a very important game in our stadium with our fans and we have to forget.”
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp also concurs with the former Shaktar Donesk manager as he believes both the Tynesiders and Manchester United would play in the UEFA Champions League next campaign.
“I expect United and Newcastle to win all their games, that means we have to win all our games anyway to keep distance to the teams behind us – that’s the first thing we have to be concerned about. If not, then we will see what happens.”
Liverpool's recent six-game winning streak has put them into the mix for a European spot after a season that was much below par by their standards.
Although they will currently have to settle for the Europa League, they are undoubtedly putting pressure on Newcastle and Manchester United, who have both recently suffered setbacks.
There are still three games left for United, two of which are at home, where they haven't lost in the league since the first day of the season, and one away.
Erik ten Hag has already won one title, and a second final is coming up in June, which is a notable improvement over the usual at Old Trafford. Without securing their spot in the Champions League, he, the players, and the fans won't truly feel that the season was a success.
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