Roberto De Zerbi picks standout player from Manchester City draw and reveals why he told Pep Guardiola he was 'sad'

A stunning first-half strike from Julio Enciso earned the point Albion needed after Phil Foden had given the visitors the lead. Click here to see our player ratings.

"I'm happy because, first of all, we have to respect our club, our fans, ourselves,” De Zerbi said in his post-match press conference.

"We had to show courage and that we believed in ourselves to win, if possible, against the best team in the world. We needed one point. We deserved to get there and play in the Europa League next year.

"I'm really proud. I think today has been one of the best games in this season.

"It was very tough but we played with incredible courage and quality.”

De Zerbi said he was impressed by ‘fantastic’ Jan Paul Van Hecke and Enciso but he picked another youngster as his man-of-the-match.

“[Facundo] Buonanotte was one of the best players on the pitch,” he said. “The improvement of the players has been fantastic and, for me, it's a big satisfaction.

“It was an incredible first XL because [Lewis] Dunk couldn't play and [Alexis] Mac Allister couldn't play 90 minutes. [Adam] Webster couldn't play and [Joel] Veltman before 70 minutes couldn’t play.”

However, the Italian perfectionist revealed he was not completely satisfied – which he told Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola.

He said: “I'm sad because we lost possession today. We will work to win possession back again.

"I told Pep I'm sad today because I lost ball possession with you. Pep is the best coach in the world. We can lose the ball possession [against them].”

On achieving a Europa League place, De Zerbi added: “At the beginning, I didn't think about my focus on a target or goal. I had to focus on my players and analyse and understand the new league in a new country.

"Premier League is totally different from Serie A and Ukrainian league. Step by step I started to think about our potential.

"February was clear in my head that we could fight for this target.

"The coaches were in tactical disposition and strategy, mentality. I love if we speak about quality of players. First of all, there is passion and energy.

"The last part of this season, I watch the players give everything. Not their best but more. Without it, we couldn't achieve this big target.

"I think we deserve to play in Europa League for our heart, head and mentality. I'm not a big coach and our players are not big players. We achieve it through other qualities.”