Sunderland travel to Torreense in Europa League trip to Portugal after 53 years away
Sunderland travel to Portugal to play Torreense in a Europa League match on Thursday night, marking their first competitive European away fixture since a 53-year trip to Lisbon to face Sporting.
The club’s last competitive venture on European soil, 53 years ago, was the second leg of a European Cup Winners’ Cup second-round tie against Sporting in Lisbon when Sunderland were FA Cup holders and in the Second Division. Torreense reached the Europa League initial phase after the surprise Portuguese Cup victory over Sporting last season and boosted their chances of reaching the knockout rounds by beating Lillestrom 2-1 in Norway last month.
Torreense’s usual home, the Estádio Manuel Marques in Torres Vedras, holds 2,431 spectators and does not meet Uefa capacity regulations, so the match has been moved to the Estádio Dr Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria, which holds 23,888 and is normally the home of second-tier União Leiria. Torres Vedras is 31 miles north of Lisbon and Leiria is an hour’s drive north of Torres Vedras; the stadium is almost two hours from the luxury Lisbon hotel where Sunderland are basing themselves after failing to find suitable accommodation elsewhere. Almost 4,000 Sunderland fans are travelling to the Leiria ground, while limited local hotel rooms have left some supporters staying in Lisbon or Porto or in nearby towns and villages including Fatima, which attracts more than six million tourists every year, and a bright, sunny 25C has been forecast for visitors.
Sunderland have made an underwhelming start to their Premier League season with one win, against Fulham, and have faced the current top four—Manchester City, Arsenal, Brighton and Brentford—in their first six league fixtures. With a league trip to Bournemouth on Sunday, who sit 18th a place and a point below Sunderland, Régis Le Bris is expected to rotate his squad for the Europa League tie.
Le Bris has often been forced to field two natural right-backs, Trai Hume and Thomas Meunier, because the club failed to sign a specialist right-winger during the summer. Hamstring injuries to Brian Brobbey and Dan Ballard have created issues at both ends of the pitch, and the previously reliable Robin Roefs has suffered a few untypical goalkeeping wobbles.
There is concern around the £30m left-winger Malick Fofana, signed from Lyon on deadline day, who is struggling to displace Nilson Angulo and "may be too lightweight for England’s top tier," and on Tuesday Sunderland announced the departure of set-piece coach James Brayne, who will be replaced by Thor Herdal. Herdal, 34, arrives from Nordsjælland where he was head of dead balls and analysis and has also worked with Denmark’s national team.
In Torres Vedras locals are preparing for their annual national day of celebration on 20 October commemorating the Lines of Torres Vedras, forts and military defences built in 1809-10; Torreense hope to defend stoutly against a Sunderland side led by a French manager and featuring several French-speaking players. Sunderland have reason to respect Torreense captain Stopira, 38, who played for Cape Verde at this summer’s World Cup, alongside the club’s playmaker João Marques and Ghanaian striker Malik Abubakari, even though Torreense sit 15th in LigaPro with six points from seven games.
Sunderland will fly straight from Lisbon to Bournemouth on Friday to minimise travel before their league trip, and they will travel to Poland to face Lech Poznan next Thursday.