Published 6 November 2026
Sunderland0 – 2
Dinamo ZagrebSunderland had never lost a European match at the Stadium of Light. Dinamo Zagreb, a club that dismissed its manager earlier in the week, changed that with a clinical 2–0 Europa League win. By the end, the home crowd was jeering and Régis Le Bris had nowhere to hide.
Jerko Leko took charge of his first senior match only days after Mario Kovačević was sacked following defeats to NEC Nijmegen and Rudeš. By half-time his side were two goals clear, and Luka Stojković had a hand in both.
Luka Stojković decided the night almost single-handedly, scoring the opener and creating the second to put Dinamo Zagreb out of reach before half-time. Rated 9.0, he was the player Sunderland's dominance of the ball never found an answer for.
The win was only Dinamo's second in their last nine away matches in European competition. It also made them the first Croatian club to record two European away wins on English soil. For a team in turmoil a week ago, it was a remarkable reset.
The opener came in the 22nd minute, from a set piece Sunderland appeared to have dealt with. Mislav Oršić delivered a corner from the right, Granit Xhaka headed it away only as far as the edge of the area, and Stojković was waiting there.
He controlled the dropping ball on his chest and met it with a clean right-footed volley from around 14 metres, sending it into the bottom corner. One controlled touch, one strike, and the hosts' grip on the ball suddenly counted for very little.
Seventeen minutes later, Stojković turned creator. Josip Mišić moved play forward with a diagonal pass, and Stojković clipped a precise through-ball behind the Sunderland defence for Dion Beljo.
Beljo took it first time. From six yards out he lifted a left-footed finish over goalkeeper Robin Roefs, and Dinamo went in at the break with a two-goal cushion built from far less of the ball than their hosts.
The moment that could have reshaped the second half arrived in the 47th minute. Wilson Isidor headed home a Granit Xhaka free-kick, but a video review detected an offside and the goal was cancelled.
The header came barely two minutes after Le Bris had made a quadruple substitution at the interval in search of a response. Had it stood, Sunderland would have been a single goal behind with the whole half to play. Instead, the deficit stayed at two, and the momentum drained away.
On the numbers, this was a match Sunderland should have taken more from. They held 62% of possession and took 17 shots to Dinamo's nine, with seven of them on target. They also forced five corners to the visitors' three.
Yet Dinamo needed only four efforts on target to win, and two of them had settled the game before half-time. Sunderland had the territory; Dinamo had the precision. The gap between those two things is the whole story of the night.
An awakened Dinamo have come alive with the arrival of a new coach. Stojković delivered a masterclass, and Beljo is the Europa League's top scorer.
Stojković's volley was his third goal in 15 appearances in all competitions this season, but his influence went well beyond that tally. Beljo has now scored 18 goals in 17 appearances across all competitions and has found the net in four of Dinamo's last six matches.
In Croatia, the reaction went beyond the scoreline. Reports celebrated a tactical turnaround and a revival in team spirit. They credited Leko for fielding a starting XI built heavily on domestic players and argued that the club should drop plans to hire a foreign coach and give him the job permanently.
Leko dedicated the victory to late club legends and close personal friends. In the upper tier, between 1,500 and 2,000 travelling supporters kept up constant noise throughout. They then stayed long after full time to sing his name together with the players.
The scene among the home support could hardly have been more different. Sunderland were loudly booed off at half-time and again at the final whistle, and many home fans had headed for the exits well before the end.
In England, the focus fell squarely on the pressure around Le Bris. Sunderland sit bottom of the Premier League and have won just once in six games across all competitions. Their domestic troubles have now followed them into Europe, after a disjointed first-half line-up was picked apart with ease.
The defeat also ends Sunderland's unbeaten start to the league phase. Both clubs now have seven points from two wins, a draw and a loss, with Dinamo ninth and Sunderland 11th in the standings.
That parity in points hides two very different directions. Dinamo leave England with a debut win for an interim coach and a growing argument for keeping him. Sunderland leave with their European campaign no longer a refuge from the crisis at home, and Le Bris has even fewer places to look for relief.
