Regis Le Bris sat down for his press conference in Lisbon this week, as he prepares to travel to one of the most peculiar fixtures in Europa League history.

Sunderland travel away to S.C.U Torreense, a team in the second division of Portuguese football.

The Azul-grenás qualified for the competition after an extra-time penalty against Sporting CP secured the Portuguese Cup (Taça de Portugal) in May of last year.

Mackems On Tour

This occasion marks the Black Cats' first away fixture in a European competition in 53 years, and the fans are making the most out of it.

A reporter stated around 4,000 Mackems may have tickets for tonight's fixture, and more may follow.

Faced with the 50km travel north himself, Le Bris praised the fans for their support:

"My first experience with [the] fans in my first season here, was really surprised when we came in from the camp, in this region [Portugal] more or less.

"We played Forest, and I don't remember exactly the numbers, but it was crazy. So the support of our fans, I think [they] can go across Europe easily."

Injury Woes

The Frenchman does admit to there being a couple of new injuries in the squad.

Thomas Meunier suffered a knock against Brighton last weekend that needs to be assessed, but it is not considered a serious injury.

"Thomas, from [the] last game, and so we'll have to wait a little bit.

"It's not a major injury, so we will reassess day by day.

"And we have one or two players like this, so we'll see what's the best step."

Brobbey And Isidor Updates

Le Bris also commented on the progress of Dutch forward Brian Brobbey, who sustained an injury while on international duty:

"Yeah, Brian travelled with the squad, so he will be involved more or less in the process quickly.

"But, we need to make sure that the process is respected, to be sure that they will be available for the season."

Onto Brobbey's striker comrade Wilson Isidor, who picked up a hamstring injury and missed the last training session.

French manager Le Bris said:

"We'll see with Wilson. He picked up a knock in the last game against Brighton, and he will be reassessed."