Regis Le Bris has expressed his immense pride after steering Sunderland into the Europa League with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over 10-man Chelsea at the Stadium of Light.
Match Overview
Trai Hume opened the scoring for the Black Cats before an own goal from Malo Gusto early in the second half doubled their advantage. Cole Palmer pulled one back for Chelsea, but the visitors had Wesley Fofana sent off just after the hour mark. Sunderland held on resolutely to secure all three points.
Seventh Place Finish
The win, combined with other results, ensured Sunderland finished seventh in the Premier League standings, capping off a remarkable return to the top flight after promotion from the Championship last season.
Speaking after the match, Le Bris said: “Proud. I’m proud of the lads, proud of the atmosphere in the stadium, the connection we had once again today to create something special. We had to win. I think we were really focused. The way we wanted to play this game showed good control, scored when it was on and finally the last part of the game was well-managed with maturity.”
Continuation of Journey
The victory came exactly one year after Sunderland’s promotion via the Championship play-off final against Sheffield United at Wembley. Le Bris sees this as a natural progression: “It’s different, Wembley was fantastic as well, a special place in English football. Here today, it’s the continuity of our journey and the journey is really special because we feel the alignment in the club with our fans and finally it’s a tribute to our collective work and it’s really nice.”
Looking Ahead to Europa League
Reflecting on the prospect of European football, Le Bris added: “It’s hard to realise at the minute. It’s going to be a new challenge, but we don’t want to set a limit. We know it’s going to be tough in the Premier League, first of all, because the second season is hard as well. Let’s start with this idea to be strong in the Premier League. After that we’ll have the Europa League which is another challenge, another story, we’ll see.”
Chelsea’s Disappointment
For Chelsea, defeat on Wearside ended a flat campaign. The Blues started the day in eighth but slipped to 10th after the loss. Interim manager Calum McFarlane, in his final game before Xabi Alonso takes over, admitted: “A disappointing end to the season. We should be finishing a lot higher up the league – for me, with this group of players, the talent we have, we should be in the Champions League. We haven’t been, we’ve been too inconsistent at times this year.”
McFarlane added: “The feeling in the dressing room is obviously of disappointment. We wanted to win today and make the best of a bad situation and get into the Europa League. We didn’t get the performance we wanted or the result. The message to the fans, we’re as disappointed as them, we’re gutted we couldn’t do it for them. They’ve been brilliant this year, they’ve really supported us, especially in the last couple of weeks when we’ve needed to win games. Unfortunately we’ve let them down today, we weren’t able to put the performance in that they deserve.”
