Talking Points: Europa Awaits as Sunderland Dream Big Again
· Yahoo Sports
I recall the 2005 Champions League Final like it was yesterday. Not because of Liverpool’s dramatic comeback, or Jerzy Dudek’s penalty-saving heroics, but because of how it made me feel as a Sunderland-supporting kid – envy. Not least because I was surrounded by my mum’s half of the family (all loud and proud Scousers of the red persuasion). Even then, I knew, or at least thought I did, that Sunderland would forever lurk in the lower reaches of the top flight and the upper echelons of the Championship.
I guess that story will resonate with many a Sunderland fan, who’ll have grappled with their own footballing existentialism and disenfranchisement at some point over the years. Plagued by that question of: “Why do we do this to ourselves?”
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Of course, success in football is relative – we haven’t won the Champions League, nor would I ever expect us to. Yet Sunday’s result and our Europa League qualification speak to us all in those moments of apathy, and serve as a poignant, joyous reminder that this is what football gives us, and more pertinently, this is what this great football club can offer.
Days like Sunday were a testament to the dedication of supporters who have endured so much for so long. Now, in a full-circle kind of way, 2005 Champions League runners-up AC Milan will feature alongside us in the Europa League draw.
Anyway, enough self-indulgence, and time for some self-congratulation.
An all-timer on Wearside
After Dan Ballard’s play-off goal last season and the derby-day win, we’ve been spoiled at the Stadium of Light in recent times, but the atmosphere and spectacle, from start to finish, were mesmeric, and arguably the best I’ve ever witnessed.
Everything from greeting the team bus and the display, to the stirring reception the team received throughout, the noise reached new decibels, and the players responded accordingly – like they have all season.
We are in the Europa League… no, really
It’s surreal to say it out loud, and it shall conceivably remain as such until we watch our first game in the competition next term.
Who could it be against? Juventus FC? Olympique de Marseille? SL Benfica? Who cares?
We’re officially a European team, who will go head-to-head with some of the continent’s biggest, most decorated names. No more “have you ever seen a Mackem in Milan?”, no more being condescended to. This is our time.
A showing that epitomised an entire campaign
Heart. Grit. Spirit. Discipline. Quality. Resolve.
Eurgh – these superlatives need a solid pre-season, for they have been bashed, and bashed again this term. Shame Samuel Johnson decided to pop his clogs in the 1700s, pre the formation of Sunderland AFC, for he’d have had his work cut out just churning out enough adjectives to describe Granit Xhaka’s chiselled exterior.
We were at it from the off. Pegging Chelsea back and hitting them down the flanks, as well as utilising Brian Brobbey’s might through the middle.
Luke O’Nien was outstanding. His range of passing to pick out Enzo Le Fée on several occasions and help stretch the play was just exceptional, as well as his knock-down for Trai Hume’s opening goal – which was taken exquisitely, by the way.
Noah Sadiki’s dynamism, Xhaka’s leadership and class, and Le Fée’s effortlessness in literally every aspect of the game saw us dominate a midfield battle against two players who cost more or less the same as our entire squad.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has the last laugh
Rewind to the Premier League owners’ meeting last summer. By all accounts, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus was like the new kid at school – scoffed at, “good luck staying in the division, mate,” his counterparts quipped as they ruffled his hair.
He, nor us, were given a chance by those in attendance.
While our 29-year-old billionaire will undoubtedly enjoy his summer on a yacht in the Mediterranean, few will be looking forward to the upcoming Premier League AGM more than our Swiss overseer. As the camera cut to him sipping on a beer during the full-time celebrations, there wasn’t a more relaxed man, woman, or child in the stadium.
Owners are impermanent, like everything in football. Still, the key to a successful tenure is ensuring that fans are given memories like we’ve been given over the last few seasons, and where there is a clear trajectory to build on momentum.
It’s an arduous task writing a summation of an entire campaign that is profound, succinct and does justice to what has been achieved, but in the words of our captain, Xhaka:
“I can promise you, as captain, this is just the beginning, and we want more!”