Key events
Big save! Robin Roefs makes a save, but AZ win the ball back and Meerdink looks certain to score … only for the keeper to throw his body in the way again!
Jordy Clasie heads off for AZ, replaced by Dave Kwakman – a great name, but not the best on the visitors’ bench, so long as Jizz Hornkamp is sitting there.
Leverkusen double their lead over Celje, defender Funky Cold Facundo Medina making it 2-0.
Sunderland 1-0 AZ: Mukiele appeals for a penalty after a challenge in the box, but gets nothing. He berates the referee, risking a second yellow card before thinking better of it and walking away.
From 2-0 down, Brighton lead Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford. Get the latest Carabao Cup news from Will Unwin:
In La Liga, Barcelona lead promoted Racing Santander 4-1 at half-time. Joao Cancelo and Raphinha have both struck twice; Lamine Yamal could even afford to miss a penalty.
Sunderland 1-0 AZ: Mukiele climbs to meet Xhaka’s cross at the near post, but heads wide.
As for the penalty incident, Le Fee had shaken off his defender and was about to shoot before Patati intervened – he was unfortunate, but there was contact.
Straight after Sunderland’s first European goal for 73 years, Regis Le Bris makes three changes. Fofana, Hume and Isidor are off, with Brobbey, Meunier and Angulo on.
GOAL! Sunderland 1-0 AZ (Le Fee pen 65′)
Le Fee, who saw his spot-kick saved against Arsenal on Saturday, steps up … and slots into the right corner, with the keeper going the other way!
Penalty to Sunderland!
They’ve been second-best so far in this half, but Enzo Le Fee has the chance to score a historic goal from the spot …
Valdemar Andreasen replaces the lively Smit for AZ – although he has to wait an extra minute after Smit took too long to get off the field.
GOAL! Anderlecht 1-2 Lyon (Cvetokic 61′)
Mihajlo Cvetkovic pulls one back for Anderlecht, steering his header just beyond Remy Descamps in the Lyon goal.
GOAL! Milan 0-2 Benfica (Kaminski 53′)
Jakub Kaminski makes it 2-0, slamming the ball home from a cross, with Milan’s defence once again caught on their heels.
“No need to go back to black and white footage, Kari,” writes Nelson Calvinho. “Milan v Benfica 1990 European Cup final is one of my all time heartbreaks as a benfiquista. Its still hard to forgive how easy we made it for that Rijkaard goal.”
Here are some highlights – but there’s better news for Nelson tonight …
Sunderland go close! Hume fires on goal but De Busser clears away with his legs. Moments later, Hume is in the right place again, but can’t keep his header down from 10 yards out.
Sunderland 0-0 AZ: At the other end, Isidor rushes his shot and sends it well wide. Dan Ballard comes on for Alderete …
AZ go close! Kees Smit twists and turns to get in behind the defence, but drags his shot just wide of the far post. He should have at least hit the target there.
Milan 0-1 Benfica: Christian Pulisic is on for Milan as they look for an equaliser.
The second half is under way in Sunderland, and elsewhere. AZ make a half-time change, with the booked Oufkir replaced by Weslley Patati.
“Milan v Benfica is one of the great European clashes, evoking black and white footage, spectators with hats, and the individual brilliance of Eusebio pitted against catenaccio,” writes Kari Tulinius.
“Dodi Lukebakio just fulfilled his role with a beautiful solo strike. The Milanese defense didn’t play their part in the drama, however, mostly standing still. Also, I haven’t seen so much as a single Stetson in the crowd.”
Catch up on the Carabao Cup here:
Europa League half-time scores
Milan 0-0 Benfica
Anderlecht 0-2 Lyon
Leverkusen 1-0 Celje
Hapoel Beer Sheva 0-0 Dinamo Zagreb
Olympiakos 1-1 Jagiellonia
Sturm Graz 0-0 Rennes
Sunderland 0-0 AZ
Half time: Sunderland 0-0 AZ
Enzo Le Fee whips a shot just wide of the post as Sunderland end the half firmly on top, but without the breakthrough goal.
Olympiakos 1-1 Jagiellonia Armando Gonzalez gets the hosts back on terms just before half-time.
Sunderland 0-0 AZ: The hosts keep pressing, with Isidor nicking the ball from Chavez and whipping a cross that Schouten has to clear behind.
There are La Liga games going on tonight, too – but not at Levante, where torrential rain has put paid to their fixture against Athletic Club. Looks fine to me, honestly. Game’s gone.
Sunderland 0-0 AZ: Ayoub Oufkir is booked for a heavy sliding challenge on Enzo Le Fee, shortly after Trai Hume’s cross almost ricochets into the net.
A scrappy spell at the Stadium of Light, with Mukiele’s snap shot quickly blocked. Elsewhere, Sturm Graz lead Rennes 1-0 in Austria … or do they? VAR is getting involved again, this time disallowing the goal for offside.
Sunderland 0-0 AZ: Trai Hume lets fly, but his shot from a tight angle flies wide. A slight concern for Sunderland is that both Hume and Alderete have already picked up yellow cards.
Milan 0-1 Benfica: The hosts are trying to get back on terms, with Terracciano’s effort well saved by Trubin.
Sunderland hit the post! Le Fee finds space to shape his shot towards goal, but strikes the near upright. It remains goalless, but Sunderland are pushing.
GOAL! Anderlecht 0-2 Lyon (Nakamura 22′)
Lyon double their lead, forward Keito Nakamura’s shot taking a fortunate deflection to beat the keeper.
Jagiellonia Bialystok, who sent Rangers out in the playoffs, lead 1-0 at Olympiakos through Kajetan Szmyt. The Greek giants sacked Jose Luis Mendilibar last week, replacing him with Imanol Alguacil – but the new manager lost his opening league game at home to OFI Crete. Let’s hope their owner is patient.
Bayer Leverkusen lead Celje, the unfortunate Svit Seslar putting through his own net for the visitors.
GOAL! Milan 0-1 Benfica (Lukebakio 16′)
It’s advantage Marco Silva against Ruben Amorim, as Dodi Lukebakio is allowed to cut infield, before curling the ball inside the far post.
Sunderland 0-0 AZ: With the pressure building, AZ escape and Oufkir has two teammates waiting in the middle … but big Trai Hume slides across to make an excellent interception!
COR! Kevin Danso fancies his own Lewis Dunk moment, his swerving effort from 30 yards tipped over by De Busser. Alderete gets a head to Le Fee’s corner, but it’s deflected behind.
Sunderland 0-0 AZ: Sunderland try to move past that shaky start, and Enzo Le Fee tests De Busser with a half-volley. He whips the rebound across goal, but it’s just out of Isidor’s reach.
Elsewhere, Rennes thought they were a goal up at Sturm Graz, but VAR has disallowed Adrien Thomasson’s effort for handball.
GOAL! Anderlecht 0-1 Lyon (Nartey 8′)
A goal in one of our featured games, as Noah Nartey finds the bottom corner from the edge of the area to put Lyon in front.
Sunderland 0-0 AZ: Eek! A big chance presented to the visitors after a careless defensive error lets Daal in on goal – thankfully for the hosts, Robin Roefs is able to turn it behind.
Milan 0-0 Benfica: Over at San Siro, Benfica make the early running with Jhon Duran’s shot deflected wide. Both teams hired former Premier League managers this summer, in Ruben Amorim and Marco Silva respectively.
Sunderland 0-0 AZ: The visitors, who I’ll call AZ rather than Alkmaar, because the A in AZ stands for Alkmaar, are in their blue and white away kit, which makes them look a bit like Peterborough United.
There’s a terrific atmosphere inside the Stadium of Light, with fireworks and a giant ship tifo backed by a cacophony of noise. Let’s go!
Two early Europa League results to bring you: Sparta Prague have won 4-1 at Ararat Armenia, while Celta conceded late on to lose 1-0 at Omonia Nicosia.
Anderlecht v Lyon team news
Anderlecht (4-3-3) Coosemans (c); Maamar, Petrot, Omobamidele, Augustinsson; Amane, Llansana, Aasgaard; Winkler, Cvetkovic, Ambros.
Subs: Heekeren, Reabciuk, Antman, Sikan, Bentayeb, Stroeykens, Barry, Cobiella, Kana, Joshua-Williame Nga Kana, Kalonji, Degreef.
Lyon (4-3-3): Descamps; Kluivert, Mata, Niakhate (c), Ouedraogo; Tessmann, Morton, Nartey; Boudache, Openda, Nakamura.
Subs: Greif, Bengui Joao, Bidstrup, Tagliafico, Nuamah, Tolisso, Sulc, Athekame, Merah, Bacher, Duranville, Himbert.
Manchester United host Brighton, and there are not one but two heads of state in attendance as Everton entertain Wolves. Join Will Unwin for the latest Carabao Cup fun.
“Given Granit Xhaka’s scorching comments, will it turn out to be the Stadium of (Come On Baby) Light My Fire?” asks Peter Oh.
Régis Le Bris: “I’m feeling really proud, for the players, the club … for our fans too. [We need to] play the game first, and we want to be brave, but not naive. [The fans are] really important, they connect to our style of play. When we press high, they get behind us.”
I mentioned in my preamble that Sunderland’s last European fixture came in Lisbon, 53 years ago. Well, here’s the Guardian match report from our archive …
Milan v Benfica team news
Milan (3-4-2-1) Maignan (c); Terracciano, De Winter, Pavlovic; Chukwueze, Musah, Jashari, Bartesaghi; Hutchinson, Cisse; Gonçalo Ramos.
Subs: Torriani, Estupinan, Loftus-Cheek, Pulisic, Rabiot, Modric, Moreira, Tomori, Gila, Gabbia, Saelemaekers, Camarda.
Benfica (4-2-3-1) Trubin; Banjaqui, Circati, Tomas Araujo, El Karouani; Aursnes (c), Palhinha; Kaminski, Sudakov, Lukebakio; Duran.
Subs: Soares, Lenglet, Barrenechea, Pavlidis, Manu Silva, Barreiro, Schjelderup, Prestianni, Dahl, Rafa Silva, Echeverri, Cabral.
Four changes from Sunderland’s narrow defeat to Arsenal at the weekend: Ballard, Brobbey, Angulo and Meunier drop to the bench, with Alderete, Hume, Isidor and Fofana coming in.
Sunderland v AZ team news
Sunderland (4-2-3-1) Roefs; Mukiele, Danso, Alderete, Mandava; Xhaka (c), Sadiki; Hume, Le Fée, Fofana; Isidor.
Subs: Moore, Ballard, Methalie, Brobbey, Angulo, Rigg, Meunier, O’Nien, Ahoka, Jones, Tutierov, Proctor.
AZ (4-3-3) De Busser; Dijkstra, Goes, Schouten, Chavez; Clasie (c), Koopmeiners, Smit; Oufkir, Meerdink, Daal.
Subs: Owusu-Oduro, Maikuma, Patati, Stengs, Andreasen, Kovacs, Hornkamp, Kwakman, Hoedt, Ichihara, De Wit.
Team news is imminent. In the meantime, TNT’s Jules Breach is chatting to Kevin Phillips on a windy walk to the stadium. “They love goalscorers here,” chuckles Super Kev as passing fans serenade him.
The Sunderland captain, Granit Xhaka, has fired an incendiary warning to tonight’s visitors:
The stadium will be on fire. And I want to see our players on fire, on and off the ball. I’ve always been a dreamer and, for me, it’s a big, big dream to reach another European final and to get it with this club.
Preamble
Sunderland’s only previous European campaign came in 1973-74, when they balanced a Division Two campaign with fixtures against Hungary’s Vasas and Sporting of Portugal, whose players spent time with the locals before losing 2-1 at Roker Park. A 2-0 victory back in Lisbon was enough to end Sunderland’s continental ambitions … until now.
After an extraordinary return to the Premier League and a seventh-place finish, Sunderland have another ticket to Europe, this time with eight fixtures guaranteed. First to visit the Stadium of Light are Dutch outfit AZ, mainstays of the Europa and Conference Leagues, who will offer a fair test of their hosts’ readiness for the long road towards the final in Frankfurt.
There are some big dogs in this year’s 36-team league phase – perhaps none bigger than seven-times European champions, Milan, who host Benfica in a high-ticket opening game. We’ll also get a first look at Lyon (away to Anderlecht) and Leverkusen (hosting Celje of Slovenia), so keep it locked.