Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishBrighton & Hove Albion are in recovery mode again after another painful experience against Nottingham Forest.Except this time it will be tougher to bounce back from Saturday’s 4-3 exit on penalties in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup at the Amex Stadium than the 7-0 hiding in the Premier League when the teams met at the City Ground eight weeks ago.The response from Fabian Hurzeler’s side to that mauling in February had been impressive, six wins on the spin and a draw at Manchester City. But it is easier to dismiss a result in a 38-game season as a blip, a one-off out of context with the rest of the campaign. Especially as injuries robbed Hurzeler of central midfielders Carlos Baleba and Yasin Ayari on that occasion.Going out of the FA Cup at the stage before a semi-final trip to Wembley, in a competition as wide open as it has been for many years, is a missed opportunity to land the club’s first major silverware, the type of chance that does not come along too often.
“We have to stick together and show a reaction. We’ve proved that already this season.” 💬 pic.twitter.com/WGSheZlzlC
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) March 29, 2025Of the six teams above them in the Premier League table, only Forest and Manchester City were in a last eight comprising three other clubs who have never won a trophy — Crystal Palace, Fulham and Bournemouth. No Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Newcastle to worry about; Hurzeler’s side beat the latter pair 2-1 at home in the fourth round and 2-1 at St James’ Park after extra-time in round five.Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea have lifted the trophy in 16 of the last 25 years, so that was a big chunk of FA Cup expertise out of the way. Does silverware matter as much as staying in the Premier League or reaching Europe — a feat achieved by Brighton for the first time under Hurzeler’s predecessor Roberto De Zerbi in 2022-23? Maybe not, but try telling that to the hordes of Newcastle supporters celebrating the club’s first trophy for 70 years in the Carabao Cup.
Anthony Gordon celebrates on the Newcastle bus parade (Photo: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)When Brighton reached the FA Cup final in 1983, it was accompanied by relegation from the top-flight. They were big underdogs against Manchester United, but they nearly pulled off a shock in a 2-2 draw before losing the replay 4-0. They were huge underdogs again in the 1-0 defeat in the semi-finals against Manchester City in 2018-19, their second season in the Premier League under Chris Hughton.The odds were more evenly stacked two seasons ago, when De Zerbi’s team were unfortunate to lose 7-6 on penalties in the semi-finals against Manchester United after they had the better of a 0-0 draw over 120 minutes. Even if they had gone through, beating Manchester City would have been a tall order (even if United went on to upset their neighbours in the final).The squad is deeper in quality than it was then. Six different goal scorers, the same number of players with assists, 17 different starters and 24 players in total carried them through to the quarter-finals. Hurzeler had six senior internationals on the bench against Forest, including Joao Pedro (Brazil), Diego Gomez (Paraguay) and 2024 Africa Cup of Nations winner Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast), plus German under-21 prospect Brajan Gruda.Forest represented a tough challenge, but home advantage, the motivation to avenge the league drubbing and the form since that debacle were not the only reasons to believe Hurzeler’s team approached the tie with a slight edge.
The stuff of dreams 🤩
Academy-graduate and club captain, Ryan Yates’ decisive penalty to send @NFFC to the #EmiratesFACup semi-finals is the @emirates Moment of the Round ❤️ pic.twitter.com/cw50fShXp9
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) March 29, 2025Chris Wood, their nemesis, was ruled out by a hip injury sustained on international duty with New Zealand. He has scored 12 goals in 24 appearances against Brighton in the top two divisions for Forest, Leeds United, Burnley and Millwall. The line-up selected by Nuno Espirito Santo also fuelled the suspicion that the visitors, third in the league, have Champions League qualification on their minds marginally more than lifting the FA Cup for a third time (they won it in 1898 and 1959).This was particularly given the visitors had a day less to recover for the return to league action — Forest host Manchester United on Tuesday, Brighton entertain Aston Villa on Wednesday. As well as the absence of Wood, wingers Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi were not introduced until the 61st minute. So, Forest played half of the tie without the players responsible for 11 of their last 20 league goals.Hurzeler’s team did not do enough to consider themselves unfortunate. They were only better than Forest in the second period of extra-time, when Matz Sels was forced into his first serious save to tip over a header by Gomez. The Belgian keeper went on to save twice in a row in the shoot-out, comfortably from Jack Hinshelwood and then from Gomez, who opted for power over placement.There is still a lot to play for in the league, with Hurzeler’s side seventh in the table. They could qualify for the Champions League, the Europa Conference, or the Europa League — though one of the routes to the latter tournament has been wiped out by their FA Cup exit. The hurt will not be easily, or quickly, erased.Villa, Champions League quarter-finalists, have the incentive of climbing above them with a victory, while Palace will be another difficult obstacle at Selhurst Park on Saturday after reaching the semi-finals with their tenth win in 12 matches at Fulham. If rivals Palace end up lifting the trophy in May, it will only exacerbate the agony for the fans of seeing a realistic shot at silverware slip away.(Top photo: Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)
