LONDON: Brighton and Hove Albion coasted past Kauno Zalgiris in their opening UEFA Conference League league phase match, sealing a 4-0 win over the visiting Lithuanians.
Despite making eight changes from the 2-0 win over Sunderland, Albion were at their suffocating best at the Amex, winning with goals by Georginio (2), Jack Hinshelwood and Matt O’Riley.
Georginio Rutter struck twice from Ibrahim Osman assists as Brighton beat their Lithuanian opponents. After Jack Hinshelwood’s header had drawn the first of a string of impressive saves from visiting goalkeeper Tomas Svedkauskas, Rutter placed in the opener and Hinshelwood followed suit to double the Seagulls’ half-time lead.
Osman collected Malick Yalcouye’s through ball to set up Rutter again as part of a slick team move, with Matt O’Riley then nodding in from debutant Younes Ibrahim’s cross.
Despite the quantity of possession that Albion had, Tomas Svedkauskas had only been called into action to tip over Pascal Gross’s free-kick from a tight angle at that stage.
The floodgates opened four minutes before the break. Georginio neatly tucked in from Ibrahim Osman’s cutback - although VAR intervention was needed after it was initially ruled out - before Jack Hinshelwood fired home in the final moments of the first half.
Georginio and Osman combined again after 53 minutes for the Frenchman’s second. It was a near identical goal to his first, and shortly afterwards O’Riley nodded back across goal and into the bottom right corner from debutant Younes Ibrahim’s cross to make it 4-0.
The Denmark international saw his diving header from eight yards punched away by Svedkauskas as the hosts went in search of a fifth, but a 4-0 victory to kickstart this campaign in the Conference League was more than enough.
Elsewhere, Mohamed Salah got an assist and a goal (his 65th in UEFA club competition), while team-mate Dju Franculino struck twice in Trabzonspor’s 4-2 win against KuPS Kuopio.
German striker Paris Brunner scored the first and set up the second for Ansu Fati as Filipe Luís’ Monaco kicked off with a 2-1 win at CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria.
Vincenzo Grifo hit a typically glorious free-kick to set last season’s Europa League finalists Freiburg on the way to a 3-2 home win against Czechia’s Jablonec. IANS
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