Marco Rose was delighted to watch “Bournemouth football” during a 2-1 win at Real Sociedad and a memorable first match in Europe for the Premier League club.
First-half goals by Justin Kluivert and Rayan ensured the Cherries’ first venture into a European competition ended with a maiden victory in the Europa League.
Tournament favourites Bournemouth had to withstand a second-half comeback from Real Sociedad, who reduced the deficit through Sergio Gomez and were indebted to a string of late saves by Dorde Petrovic to make sure the travelling 2,000 supporters went back to Boscombe happy.
“That’s Bournemouth. That’s Bournemouth football. We want to be active, we want to be front-footed, we want to play forward and we want to create chances. We had a header to be 3-0 up, but in the end a game is 90 minutes,” Rose told TNT Sports.
“It was very intense and tough. In the end an enjoyable result. A brilliant first half in everything. Our effort, attitude and the way we won balls with our pressing, our out of possession game and our goals.
“A top first half. Second half we needed to suffer and we were not so sharp. In the end it was a deserved win but we need to talk about the second half.”
Petrovic made two fine stops to thwart Orri Oskarsson in the final five minutes at San Sebastian to secure a historic win for the Cherries, but Rose was eager to not brush under the carpet a difficult second half before his team sealed the second win of his reign.
Rose added: “It’s about maybe the mindset and we lack a little bit of intensity. If you lose these kind of things, in our style, then you will get in trouble.
“That is what we have to know. If you get tired, we can change, we can do substitutes and we should do it a little bit better, but today it is just about a brilliant win away in our first European game.
“That’s very important for the club and I have to say 2,000 fans from Bournemouth. I am quite happy for everyone at the club and our fans.”
Adam Smith first joined Bournemouth in 2014 when they were in the third tier of English football and only 18 years ago the south coast outfit were on minus 17 points in League Two.
Smith told TNT Sports: “What a night. It’s history made. I told the lads before the game, we’re making history playing here tonight but we want to do it with a win and that’s what we’ve done.
“The lads are absolutely buzzing and now it’s a quick turnaround for Liverpool on Sunday.
“Yeah, I mean I think this is my 12th season and when I first joined, to think I’d be playing in Europe for this club, I would never have dreamed of that.
“It’s an amazing achievement to get the win tonight and against a good team. Really looking forward to the next game on Sunday.”
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