Alessandro Barcherini’s message to Sunderland fans after Europa League qualification | OneFootball

Sunderland assistant head coach Alessandro Barcherini has delivered an emotional message after the Black Cats clinched Europa League qualification, ending a 52-year wait for European football on Wearside.

In a post, Barcherini said it was hard to sum up the group’s achievement, noting many doubted survival and praising players, staff and supporters for being all in for 47 weeks. He picked out late goals and derby wins, saying resilience proved decisive and that fans deserve UEFA Europa League football.

Sunderland defied external expectations throughout the campaign and sealed seventh place with a 2-1 victory over Club World Cup champions Chelsea at the Stadium of Light, exactly one year after their play-off final win over Sheffield United at Wembley.

Barcherini arrived in 2022 after three years at Leeds United, where he worked under Marcelo Bielsa during the 2020 promotion to the Premier League, then continued under Jesse Marsch across senior and academy programmes.

At Elland Road he worked as assistant goalkeeping coach with the first team and as the academy’s head of goalkeeping. Earlier he played for Notts County, analysed performance at Nottingham Forest and held roles at Nottingham Trent University, including head of football.

After heading academy goalkeeping at Notts County from 2015, he became Stoke City’s lead academy goalkeeping coach in August 2018, experience now feeding into Sunderland’s operation at the Academy of Light under Régis Le Bris.

Source: Sunderland Echo