Enzo Le Fée makes amends from the spot as Sunderland overcome AZ
Four days after having a penalty saved against Arsenal, Enzo Le Fée scored from 12 yards as Sunderland won 1-0 against AZ in their Europa League opener
Granit Xhaka, Sunderland’s captain, believes it is not unrealistic to dream about Régis Le Bris’s side travelling all the way to the Europa League final next spring.
It is rarely a good idea to dismiss Xhaka but reaching that showpiece in Frankfurt will necessitate considerably more efficient finishing on his team’s part than proved evident on a highly evocative night on Wearside.
Thanks to a second-half penalty from the indefatigable Enzo Le Fée – appropriately the game’s outstanding player – the game ended happily for Sunderland as the home side launched their big return to Europe with a morale-boosting win.
Along the way they missed a litany of chances but, in Le Fée, possessed both a high-calibre attacking playmaker and a tireless off‑the‑ball warrior who, time after time, regained possession for his team.
When Le Bris was invited later to agree that a player he first coached as a 12-year-old in Lorient’s academy was Champions League class, the Sunderland manager’s smile lit up the room. “Enzo’s a great player,” he said. “I trust him and his quality. I’m proud and pleased for the players and the fans, AZ are a really good side but we played with heart and togetherness.”
Occupants of the VIP seats included Jimmy Montgomery, the now 82-year-old hero of Sunderland’s 1973 FA Cup triumph against Leeds and their European goalkeeper during that last, albeit fairly short‑lived, adventure in the Cup Winners’ Cup 53 years ago.
Kick-off was prefaced by a spine-tingling, ear-splitting preamble featuring a giant tifo of a sailing ship floating above the message: “New shores to conquer”.
Not that AZ were inclined to surrender lightly. Leeroy Echteld’s team had enjoyed an unbeaten start to the season, winning five and drawing one of their opening Eredivisie games.
Indeed they would have taken an early lead had Robin Roefs not extended a boot and kept out the dangerous Ro-Zangelo Daal’s low shot after he had been played in by the talented visiting No 10 Kees Smit.
The moment had arrived for Le Fée to start raising the home tone and his half-volley duly tested Jari De Busser. Though De Busser was swiftly forced to push Kevin Danso’s fine shot over the bar, Sunderland almost came undone on the counterattack and it took an excellent interception on Trai Hume’s part to halt Ayoub Oufkir.
Ruben Amorim’s Milan were beaten 2-0 by Marco Silva’s Benfica in the Europa League. Dodi Lukebakio put the Portuguese side ahead at San Siro in the 16th minute and Jakub Kaminski added a second early in the second half.
Bayer Leverkusen, finalists in 2024, began their Europa League campaign with a 2-0 win against the Slovenian champions Celje while Lyon were 2-1 winners at Anderlecht.
The Cypriot champions Omonia Nicosia stunned the La Liga side Celta Vigo 1-0 while Rangers’ conquerors Jagiellonia Bialystok were denied a point at the Greek giants Olympiacos by Roman Yaremchuk’s late winner.
Sparta Prague thrashed Ararat-Armenia 4-1 while Sturm Graz against Rennes and Hapoel Be’er Sheva versus Dinamo Zagreb both ended goalless.
Press Association
Smit and his teammates issued plenty of reminders that AZ are more than merely deft in possession, but Le Bris’s starting XI was hardly shabby either and, after Wilson Isidor conjured a glorious chance, Le Fée’s shot hit the post.
It was not long before another shot, from Hume this time, whizzed just wide of an upright. When, back in January 2022, Hume joined Sunderland, they were still in League One.
Back in the present Le Bris’s team ended the first half thoroughly dominant yet frustrated. The manager later blamed “overthinking”. Oufkir, meanwhile, was arguably fortunate to collect only a yellow card after sliding in recklessly on Le Fée and was replaced by Weslley Patati at the interval.
AZ re-emerged for the second half invigorated and, as Smit wrong‑footed Sunderland’s rearguard before curling a shot inches wide, it was easy to see why he has collected so many admirers across Europe.
Perhaps anxious not to be upstaged, Le Fée swiftly regained the limelight courtesy of a stellar pass that Isidor could not quite polish off.
When Hume subsequently missed another presentable chance it seemed that De Busser’s goal must be protected by some sort of magnetic forcefield.
Then Patati felled Le Fée in the area as he shaped to shoot and a player being scrutinised by the France head coach, Zinedine Zidane, stepped up to the spot.
Having seen a penalty against Arsenal saved expertly by David Raya last Saturday, Le Fée looked a little nervous but he sent De Busser the wrong way as he struck a textbook kick low into the bottom corner. “It was important to score,” Le Bris said. “But Enzo stepped up with bravery and courage. He’s resilient.”
Although Nordi Mukiele and Brian Brobbey, on as a substitute, should really have doubled the lead before Patati’s volley almost provided a late equaliser for AZ, that penalty proved just enough to launch Sunderland’s galleon on European waters.