Brighton striker Danny Welbeck felt they restored some pride after their 1-0 win against Roma.
It meant Brighton lost their Europa League round 16 tie 4-1 on aggregate.
Matchwinner Welbeck said: "The lads gave 100%, it's difficult obviously with the first leg. Very difficult to take that defeat. We paid the price with the first leg. We knew we could get a result in front of the fans tonight but it was too much to do.
"We've got a lot of very good players that are out [injured] as well. With the squad, we have to be proud of ourselves and we did the best that we can do.
"Nice to get the goal. Last week I got some good headers and the keeper made some good saves. It was nice to get that goal but tonight it's not enough."
On getting back into Europe, he added: "We want to keep improving and progressing as a team and as a club. There's a great culture at the club."
"We're going to do our best to get back to playing in these competitions.
"Brighton [being in the Europa League] is historical, first time in Europe, bringing European football to Brighton was massive in itself but there are some steps we need to take to keep bring European football to Brighton."