It was an image straight from a European tie of years past: an ecstatic player hurdling the pitchside advertising hoardings, running across the adjacent athletics track and throwing himself jubilantly into a throng of travelling supporters that had been put through ninety minutes of nerves and anxiety on a curious night in Portugal.
The player? Noah Sadiki.
The club? Sunderland AFC.
The vanquished opponents? Torreense, the plucky second-tier side that qualified for the Europa League by virtue of a shock
cup success at the end of 2025/2026 and whom for large parts of this memorable tie were game, stoic and appeared to be on course for a famous victory thanks to a long range wonder goal that left Robin Roefs stunned and Lads fans shellshocked.
Fortunately, Sunderland’s midfield dynamos in the shape of Sadiki and the impressive Jules Ahoka didn’t get that particular memo and as the Congolese duo teamed up to turn the tie around — Ahoka’s header drawing Sunderland level before Sadiki slammed home a superb winner from Granit Xhaka’s neat touch — it was hard to escape a sense of “This result was far more important than the performance on which it was built”, and that certainly rang true in the cold light of day.
Two games, two wins, two memorable occasions? That’ll do for now.
This Europa League lark mightn’t be easy but it’s undeniably intoxicating, and as for those scenes when the winning goal went in? All-timers. The stuff of dreams and that’ll pass into Sunderland folklore as the years go by and the stories are recanted — “Did you see Sadiki’s goal? Thought we’d have to settle for a draw before he did the business.”
If there have been questions asked about Sunderland’s toughness and resilience this season, they were certainly answered in part as we made it two wins from two at the start of our European odyssey.
However, let’s not sugarcoat this: we didn’t play well on Thursday night barring brief bursts in the second half where the impetus was regained as the bench was emptied, the cavalry arrived and we began to play with the kind of intensity that was strangely lacking in the first half.
Xhaka brought the nous and Nordi Mukiele brought the class, and combined with the irrepressible Ahoka, whose energy, skill and physical profile are more than reminiscent of one Jobe Bellingham, Régis Le Bris was able to oversee another turnaround and a result that should give everyone a lift ahead of tomorrow’s key clash with Bournemouth.
The Frenchman is finding the going tough at the moment, with solutions not proving easy to come by, but you have to give him credit for holding his nerve, refusing to panic and eventually steering us to victory.
In some ways, this game threw up as many questions as it did answers.
Even with a rotated starting eleven, the smart money suggested that we needed to target a comfortable victory, but as Torreense — a painfully limited side, it must be said — went about their business, it was anything but and I don’t think it’s unduly harsh to say that things aren’t quite clicking right now.
The fundamental problem with this Sunderland side is that despite the wealth of superbly gifted players within the ranks, it currently lacks a little bit of spark; a little bit of nitrous in the attack, and given the struggles of Nilson Angulo and Malick Fofana, was it a surprise that we didn’t trouble the hosts anywhere near enough, with attacks breaking down and promising moves failing to yield positive results?
Is it fixable? Yes, but I do feel we need to see more from Fofana — a blue chip signing who clearly has talent to burn but hasn’t yet fully arrived in a red and white shirt — and I also don’t believe that we’re a good enough side to be able to leave Chemsdine Talbi out of the reckoning. The Moroccan winger isn’t the finished article but he’s lively, is unafraid to take a man on and you’d surely back him to make things happen more often than not.
On the upside, seeing the likes of Timur Tuteriov in European action was a real boon, and Luke O’Nien’s astonishing Sunderland story entering a new chapter in the form of his captaincy of the side in a competitive European game was something for the ages. Regardless of people’s opinions of the long-serving defender, the fact is that he’s still here, still grafting and still contributing, and that’s the mark of the man.
For now, it’s onwards to the south coast and what could be a nervy encounter with the Cherries, and then another landmark away trip in midweek, this time to Lech Poznan, where the chance to take another stride towards qualification from the league phase will await Le Bris and the Lads.
After the riotous opener against AZ Alkmaar, this was an entirely different kind of test and one that — thanks to some good old never-say-die spirit — we were able to pass. Not pretty, but absolutely priceless.
