Fabian Hurzeler admitted it was “very emotional” seeing his Brighton side defeat Manchester United in dramatic fashion.
Danny Welbeck opened the scoring against his former side for the 100th goal of his career, giving the hosts the lead heading into the break.
That was cancelled out on the hour mark when Amad Diallo scored a marvellous solo goal which took a heavy deflection on the way in.
Man Utd thought they had put themselves in front after substitute Alejandro Garnacho fired in at the back post, but it was ruled offside after Joshua Zirkzee inadvertently touched the ball on the line.
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A draw would have been a fair result, but Joao Pedro arrived unmarked in the box to meet Simon Adingra’s cross and head the ball home deep into stoppage time.
“It was very emotional, always when you get the win in the last minute it is,” Hurzeler told BBC Match of the Day. “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.
“I’m very proud of the team, they showed the value of never giving up and that’s very important to me.
“I think the first half was equal and then in the second half we started to control the game quite well. We had a lot of chances, especially in the second half.
“Their goal for me was from out of nowhere. I then didn’t like the losing the control. Then after their offside goal I think we started to control the game again. In the end, I think we deserved to win.”
Hurzeler also heaped praise on Pedro, who he called a “special” player after putting in a Player of the Match performance for Brighton.
“I think Joao is a player who can decide the game with one action,” he said. “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. But in the end it’s always a team win and that’s most important.”
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