Sunderland will play AC Milan at the San Siro in the league phase of the Europa League, in the club’s first European campaign since 1973.
Fifty-three years is long enough that nobody at the club has done this before. The last time Sunderland were in Europe they went as holders of the FA Cup, having beaten Leeds United at Wembley the previous May.
Bournemouth were also drawn against Milan.
The distance travelled
Régis Le Bris has taken a side that was in the Championship to a European draw against one of the competition’s most decorated clubs, and the reaction on Wearside has been about the improbability of it rather than the difficulty. Milan at the San Siro is not a tie anybody is pretending to be a favourite in. It is a tie a lot of people have waited a very long time to be given.
The rest of it
The league phase spreads eight fixtures across the autumn and into January, with the top eight going straight to the last sixteen. For a club returning after five decades away, the format’s virtue is simple: it guarantees four European nights at home, whatever the results.
