Roberto De Zerbi has given fans plenty of special, undreamed of days in the last few months.

Ever since he led them to a first ever league win over Chelsea, in fact.

But he would have loved to have secured the dream finale on a Thursday evening which matched that hostile Saturday afternoon for fervour and atmosphere.

De Zerbi stood out in the sweeping rain, hands high above his head, applauding Albion fans after the 3-2 defeat by AEK Athens.

They had seen their team in Europe for the first time – and it WAS a different experience.

But they had not cheered a first European win or seen their side put on a show for the continent in the way they would have wished.

Some Albion fans possibly thought of their team sweeping all before them, conquering Europe with a brand of football which had fans across the borders purring.

It was not to be that way. Not yet, anyway.

It is tougher than that and Thursday night was a reality check.

Albion found AEK a tough proposition. The Greek side and their Argentinean coach enjoyed the challenge.

Were AEK under-rated? Matias Almeyda certainly suggested so.

Without their play-making, tower-of-strength centre-back and skipper Lewis Dunk, Albion’s football lacked its usual shape, direction and patience.

While the stadium, decked out for UEFA, felt largely familiar but with a few notable differences, so did the Albion performance.

It was not quite the Albion we have come to know and enjoy but there were still some good moments.

Watching the game back, their football was perhaps better than it seemed at the time, when you are wrapped up in the noise, the tension, the need to get a goal.

Speaking at lunchtime on Friday, De Zerbi still had images of two moments in his mind.

The chance for Joao Pedro at 2-2 and the mess which led to AEK scoring their winner soon after.

He said: “You know how I feel about the relationship with the fans.

“I was really sorry for the fans because I can imagine how long they have waited for that moment, a whole life maybe, from the beginning of their life.

“But they have to be proud of the players because we have great guys.

“After the defeat I’d like to put you inside the dressing room and you can understand the level of the people I have.

“We have to adapt, we are competing at a top level.

“If you compete against a big team, you can lose.

“The defeat is a part of football, especially if you play with courage.

“If you play without courage, it’s different.

“The style can give you pride and I think Brighton fans are proud of their players.”

The question was along the lines of Albion fans repeating the “incredible” atmosphere of Thursday when Bournemouth visit on a Sunday afternoon.

And indeed it was one hell of a night – when it felt like the host club got everything right apart from the result.

And when AEK and their fans were everything you would want seasoned European campaigners to be.

De Zerbi agreed the atmosphere had been incredible.

But he never quite got to the bit about repeating that on Sunday.

In reality, it is not going to happen.

But De Zerbi will be keen to see how players and supporters alike respond to a fixture which had him raising red flags even on Wednesday afternoon, when all we could think about was Europe.

About 30 hours before kick-off versus AEK, De Zerbi said: “To forget the game we played before and be focused only on the next game.

“The game in Manchester is finished and we have to think only of the next game, like AEK tomorrow.

“I think Bournemouth will be a tougher game, because it’s the third game in a week.”

Albion have had so much good press since the win at Old Trafford and then the build-up to Thursday.

To then open up in Europe with a home defeat will have felt deflating.

De Zerbi said he was more worried about injuries, with Dunk missing the AEK game, James Milner going off and Pascal Gross picking up a problem.

All three are being assessed and De Zerbi is still working on the best time to bring in Carlos Baleba, the midfield enforcer signed more than three weeks ago from Lille.

The boss is taking time with Baleba in the same way as he did with Julio Enciso and Evan Ferguson and still is with Facundo Buonanotte.

De Zerbi said: “With defeat, we have to restart with the same attitude, with the same passion, with the same pride because we have to win many, many games.

“If Brighton win at Man United, Old Trafford, 3-1, scoring a goal after I don’t know how many passes (it was 30), if Brighton win against Newcastle 3-1, we know we have a lot of expectation but we have to be honest with ourselves, to be proud – because we deserve to win 3-1 at Old Trafford, we deserve to beat Newcastle, we deserve to reach the Europa League.

“But in ourselves nothing changed.

“We have to be focused on the game, on the improvement, on the quality of the players, the quality of the play.

“We can’t suffer (because of) the expectation. It’s not a pressure.

"They (Bournemouth) want to win their first game but we want to reach 15 points.

"We want to win because yesterday we lost and we don't like to lose the game, especially if you play like yesterday."