Sunderland 1-0 AZ Alkmaar: Le Fee delivers as Black Cats’ 53-year wait for European return ends | OneFootball

Sunderland dispatched AZ Alkmaar 1-0 at the Stadium of Light as the Black Cats marked their return to European action after a 53-year wait.

Régis Le Bris’ side reigned supreme on a historic night in the North East thanks to Enzo Le Fee’s second-half penalty, making it a perfect return to life on the continent for the Mackems.

Despite a strong start to their Eredivisie campaign, Leeroy Echteld’s side suffered their first defeat of the season on the opening night of the Europa League, unable to spoil Sunderland’s long-awaited European homecoming.

As it happened

Despite a nervy opening to proceedings, it was the visitors who carved out the first opportunity of the night. A mistake while playing out from the back was pounced on deep inside the Sunderland half, leaving AZ Alkmaar’s top scorer, Ro-Zangelo Daal, one-on-one with Rooefs. The Sunderland goalkeeper stood tall, producing a vital save to keep the scores level after just seven minutes.

The hosts soon fashioned their first opening as a long pass over the top from Mukiele picked out Le Fée, who attempted to finish on the volley, only for the visiting goalkeeper to parry his effort away.

Sunderland continued to turn the screw in the 14th minute as Kevin Danso collected the ball on the edge of the box and unleashed a powerful strike towards goal, but De Busser responded with a dramatic save to deny him.

The Black Cats came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock in the 24th minute. Wilson Isidor neatly spun his marker before powering forward and cutting the ball back into the path of Le Fée, whose low, driven effort crashed against the woodwork.

The home side threatened again moments later, this time through Trai Hume, who showed tremendous confidence to unleash a half-volley from the edge of the box, only for his effort to drift narrowly wide of the post.

With less than five minutes remaining of the first half, AZ Alkmaar’s defence was being subjected to wave after wave of Sunderland pressure. The visitors stood firm, however, resisting a relentless barrage of attacks and set pieces as the hosts struggled to find the breakthrough before the interval.

The visitors emerged from the break on the front foot and nearly snatched the lead as Smit showcased excellent close control to beat his marker and carve out space for a shot, but his effort drifted narrowly wide of the post.

Then, just after the hour mark, it was that man again – Le Fée – at the heart of the action. The Frenchman burst into the box and, just as he prepared to pull the trigger, was brought down, leaving the referee with no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Le Fée showed ice-cold composure from 12 yards, calmly dispatching his penalty into the bottom-right corner. The Stadium of Light erupted as Sunderland finally had the breakthrough their dominance had threatened to produce.

The hosts almost doubled their advantage in the 68th minute when captain Granit Xhaka swung a dangerous corner towards the back post, where Mukiele rose highest, but he could not direct his header towards goal.

As the clock ticked beyond the 80-minute mark, AZ Alkmaar somehow failed to find an equaliser. A frantic spell inside the Sunderland box saw three consecutive close-range efforts thrown towards goal, with the Black Cats producing heroic last-ditch defending to block and repel each attempt before finally clearing their lines.

The visitors passed up another huge opportunity in the 84th minute after a clever bouncing backheel from Hornkamp found the path of an arriving AZ Alkmaar attacker inside the box. With the goal at his mercy, however, he could only send his side-footed effort over the crossbar.

And still the drama was not over.

As the game entered its dying stages, Brian Brobbey broke free on the counter-attack and appeared destined to level the contest.

His powerful close-range strike was somehow kept out, before the rebound was blocked and then denied twice more as Sunderland’s defenders threw themselves in front of the ball on the goal line.

When the final whistle eventually arrived, Sunderland had survived an extraordinary late onslaught to secure a famous 1-0 victory – a magical night at the Stadium of Light and a triumphant return to European football after 53 years.