Le Fée converts penalty as Sunderland edges past AZ 1-0 in Europa League

A penalty from Enzo Le Fée in the 65th minute was enough for Sunderland to grind out a tight 1-0 win over AZ at the Stadium of Light, in a Europa League match where the English side finally got the victory their attacking output had been demanding since the opening whistle.

If the first half made anything clear, it's that Sunderland had no intention of just sitting back. Enzo Le Fée was a constant nightmare for the Dutch defense, testing the goalkeeper in the 12th minute, smashing a shot off the post in the 24th and still finding time to come close to a goal in stoppage time. Around him, Nordi Mukiele, Kevin Danso and Trai Hume also caused trouble with shots that missed the target, while AZ defended with discipline and flashed forward on occasion, like Mexx Meerdink's header that grazed the crossbar in the 8th minute. The first half ended 0-0, but with the home side having created considerably more danger.

The second half followed the same script until, in the 63rd minute, Weslley Patati, who had barely been on the field after coming on at halftime, fouled Le Fée inside the box. The referee had no hesitation pointing to the spot, and showed the Dutch defender a yellow card for good measure. Two minutes later, Le Fée himself stepped up to take the penalty and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to make it 1-0, a scoreline that would hold up as final.

With the lead in hand, manager Régis Le Bris turned to his bench almost immediately, making four substitutions between the 66th and 83rd minutes to freshen up his lineup and protect the result. AZ, under coach Leeroy Echteld, tried to respond by bringing on Valdemar Byskov and Jizz Hornkamp, who tested their luck from outside the box, including a shot that came close to the crossbar in the 85th minute, but couldn't break down Sunderland's defensive wall in the closing stretch, which ran through the 93rd minute thanks to three minutes of stoppage time.

What the numbers say

The stats back up the sense that Sunderland dominated despite seeing less of the ball:

AZ had more possession and completed more passes, but Sunderland nearly doubled them in shots and fired off twelve corners to just five for their opponents. That relentlessness also shows up in the xG calculated after the fact based on the match's shots: 3.07 for Sunderland against 1.91 for AZ, a gap that suggests the final score could have been even more lopsided in the home side's favor had it not been for the visiting goalkeeper's saves and a lack of precision on some clear-cut chances.

Before kickoff, our match preview gave Sunderland a 38% chance of winning, with 31% for a draw and 31% for an AZ victory, with expected goals of 1.26 for the home side and 1.11 for the visitors. The final result, a tight 1-0, ended up matching that forecast of a close match fairly well, though the superiority Sunderland showed on the field was more pronounced than those pre-match numbers suggested.

What the match leaves behind

With this win, Sunderland moved to 3 points in the competition, with one match played, one win and a goal difference of +1, sitting in seventh place in the table. AZ, meanwhile, remains without points for now. For Sunderland, the takeaway is clear: they dominated in terms of volume of play, found the breakthrough from the penalty spot and managed the lead through to the final whistle, even after losing Omar Alderete, who had to leave the field injured in the second half.