Rutter has lost his place to teenage hot-shot Charalampos Kostoulas in the Albion team, and was making his first start since the opening day of the season against Lithuanian champions Kauno Zalgiris.

The French forward responded by scoring twice and creating another as Brighton cruised to a 4-0 victory at the Amex Stadium, with Jack Hinshelwood and Matt O’Riley also on target..

Baltic minnows Zalgiris were making their debut in the league stage of any European competition.

They had dropped down from both the Champions League and Europa League play-offs before eventually landing in the Conference League.

Hurzeler made eight changes from Brighton’s last Premier League match, Saturday’s 2-0 win over Sunderland, with only Bart Verbruggen, Olivier Boscagli and Pascal Gross keeping their places.