Captain looking forward to intimidating atmosphere when Wearsiders host AZ, after 53 years away.
W hen Sunderland last played European football, club directors viewed it as a useful means of raising the cash necessary to fund floodlight upgrades at Roker Park necessitated by England’s adoption of colour television.
Coming at a moment when miners and railway workers were engaged in long-running industrial action and north-easterners’ finances were duly tight, it dictated that a disappointing crowd of under 23,000 turned out to watch Dennis Tueart’s penalty secure a 3-0 aggregate win.
Fifty-three years on, Wearside’s financial outlook is once again uncertain as the gig economy makes security a stranger for many and the cost of living spirals, but a near 49,000-capacity crowd is still expected at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday night.
Sunderland’s opening Europa League match against AZ Alkmaar will be televised across much of the world in HD but if Granit Xhaka has his way, viewers may need to adjust their brightness controls.
“The stadium will be on fire,” says Sunderland’s captain, who at Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen played in two Europa League finals, losing twice.
Four months ago, after Sunderland, coincidentally, beat Chelsea at the Stadium of Light to secure a seventh-place finish in the Premier League and only the second European adventure in their history, Xhaka grabbed a microphone and declared: “This is just the beginning; we want more.”
Back in 1973-74 Sunderland were European underdogs, a Second Division team who found themselves engaged in continental combat, thanks to a famous FA Cup final triumph against Leeds.