Inside intriguing test for Neil's Cats and what we’ve learned
Within hours of Sunderland finishing their final training session at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira on Tuesday morning, the place had been transformed.
Everywhere you turned was the AS Roma crest. It was on the stadium flags and on the dugouts. It lined the wall soft he tunnel, and even found its way onto the podium where the match ball would be placed.
The Europa Conference League champions were well and truly in town.
Yet for all their international talent, there was no doubt who the star turn was. Legions of kids in Portugal tops screamed Jose Mourinho's name every time he emerged from the tunnel, and no one came close to matching the crowds he drew for the selfie crew.
At half time, he had a strong claim for man of the match.
Roma's players were left incandescent when Luke O'Nien, moments after crunching into a challenge on Stephen El Shaaraway, caught Roger Ibanez in an aerial challenge. There was no malice, but Ibanez hurt and his team-mates wanted red. So Mourinho took charge. Onto the pitch he strolled, for a word with, well just about anyone in his path.
The referee quickly-relented. Therewas a quiet word with Alex Neil, play with tenor make a sub. Not one of the harder calls Neil will make this season.
Jose wandered back to his chair and reclined into his chair as if it was time for a beer. Job done.
Up until this point, Sunderland had done superbly.
They'd taken a real risk in playing with a high defensive line, and had tried to play out from the back wherever possible.
Yes, it meant that AS Roma had space over the top and there were two or three moments where just a better first touch would have seen them through.
Broadly though, they sat deep. Mourinho had started with two relatively defensive midfielders and three centre backs, and Sunderland weren' t afraid to take their chance to knock it around.
If the interplay between Embleton, Jack Diamond and Leon Dajaku wasn't quite as we had see non Saturday night, then that makes sense when you consider how little they have played together under Neil and that Dajaku was leading the line.
Roma's defensive line was formidable, too. They sat deep, so there was little chance to test the pace of players like Nemanja Matic and Chris Smalling. In one-v-one duels and in dealing with crosses to the box, they showed their strength and their experience.
Sunderland should have had the lead early in the second half, too, when Dajaku burst through on goal and took as hot when the right call was to square for Jack Clarke.
At that point, the game was finely poised. Enter Afena-Gyan, and enter Zaniolo.
Nicolo Zaniolo is the subject of one of Italy's biggest transfer sagas this summer, with Ju vent us eager to strike a deal worth tens of millions of Euros. It didn't take long to understand why. He played the false nine role to perfection. Sunderland didn't know whether he was going to make an early run in behind or come deep to start moves.
When he stepped inside and cracked an effort from a narrow angle off the inside of the post, it seemed to defy physics that the ball rolled free of the goal.
Not everything came off, but this was technical ability on a level you rarely see.
Sunderland were clearly tiring in the intense heat, conditions with which Roma are far more familiar.
An increasingly telling factor in the game was that while Sunderland made only one or two changes, at half time Mourinho had made five and it was mostly youngsters who came on. They had the running power to exploit every single gap the Black Cats couldn' t plug in the final 25 minutes.
Afena-Gyanh as been linked with a move to Crystal Palace this summer, and the biggest compliment you can pay him is that looked like the kind of winger who could have graced any of Mourinho's great sides.
Time and time again he held his run, drifting into dangerous space out wide. After missing two good opportunities to score, there was never any chance he was going to miss the third.
When he did again and this time squared for Zaniolo, it was game over.
After a punishing week in the sun, Sunderland looked as if they didn't really have much left in the tank.
There was no realdisappointment from Neil after, and nor should they be.
He had expected the heat to tell in the closing stages of the game, and that knew that in introducing some younger players the Black Cats would probably suffer in their defensive shape. He felt that understandably, his team had dropped off as they tired, creating that space in which AS Roma could thrive.
Over the course of two games against top-quality opposition, there have been positives all over the park.
The one reservation you would have at this stage is that in key areas of the pitch, they are currently short on bodies and that was obvious here.
Though his injury is said not to be serious, Stewart' s absence was a stark reminder of just how integral he currently is to the club's hopes. The arrival of a new striker would settle a lot of Wearside nerves.
It was a good day for An opponent that makes you feel like they are on the way up, and a performance that for large parts suggested the same.
I just hope there aren't many Zaniolos in the Championship.
* The Sunderland Echo's coverage of SAFC in Portugal is brought to you in association with Flex Joinery. Visit www.flexjoinery.co.uk for further details.