Sunderland head to Lech Poznań as Europe return comes 52 years on

Sunderland’s Europa League return is headlined by their trip to Lech Poznań, 52 years after the club last made the competition. As The Guardian notes, the team’s opening continental run already brought plenty of drama: they won their first home match, then in their first game abroad they conceded an early goal, equalised, missed a late penalty and still found an injury-time winner.

That winner was also Noah Sadiki’s first goal for the club. Back in England, Sunderland are bottom of the Premier League, and the paper points to injuries as part of the mess, naming Dan Ballard and Brian Brobbey among the players who would have been avoided.

The same preview covers other key ties for the evening, including Crystal Palace at Beşiktaş, AC Milan heading to Bournemouth, and the clash Juventus vs Rennes, plus Celtic’s game against Celta Vigo.