Bournemouth in pinch-me territory as another underdog success story in English soccer

Held aloft by Bournemouth supporters at one end of the club’s cozy, 12,000-seat stadium was a giant tifo that posed a simple question: “How did we end up here?”

Their team was about to play AC Milan, one of the most famous names in world soccer, in the Europa League and cruise to a 3-0 win . Three days later, it would steamroll Manchester United — another global superpower — by the same score in the Premier League.

Indeed, these are pinch-me times for fans of a team from England’s south coast which was playing in the second-tier Championship just five years ago and, 18 years ago, went into bankruptcy protection, leading to demotion to the bottom tier of the English Football League.

That year — the 2007-08 season — Milan started out as the Champions League titleholder and Man United finished it by winning Europe's biggest club trophy.

Bournemouth? It was on its knees, barely able to survive.

How different things are now.

The Cherries are owned by U.S. billionaire Bill Foley , have a raft of top international talent in its squad including U.S. captain Tyler Adams , and have just finished in their highest ever end-of-season position — sixth place in the Premier League — to qualify for European competition for the first time.

In almost every transfer window Bournemouth’s best players are typically poached by the heavyweights of the European game, like Dean Huijsen going to Real Madrid, Illia Zabarnyi moving to Paris Saint-Germain and star winger Antoine Semenyo signing for Manchester City. Even its previous manager, Andoni Iraola , left to join Liverpool during the last offseason.

Yet so well-run is the club and so astute is its recruitment team — much like another upwardly mobile south-coast club, Brighton — that it isn’t turning out to be a problem.

OK, this season started slowly in the Premier League, with Bournemouth not winning any of its first six matches under newly appointed coach Marco Rose — chiefly because good performances were undermined by letting in sloppy late goals.

But the team has just had five straight wins, culminating in a magical past week containing the Milan-United double that would have had dyed-in-the-wool Bournemouth fans rubbing their eyes in disbelief and then Wednesday's 3-0 win over Aston Villa — one of England's Champions League entrants this season.

“It feels at the moment that we are in a flow but it is hard work — that’s what we have to know and we have to continue the hard work to stay in it," Rose said.

Sitting in 13th place in the 20-team Premier League but clearly with sky-high confidence, Bournemouth next faces Leeds at home on Saturday and has a benign run of games coming up, after its tough schedule to start the season.

France Under-21 star Eli Junior Kroupi, the team's biggest young talent and possibly its next big money sale, is fit again after a three-month layoff with a foot injury. Rayan, an imposing 20-year-old winger and another potential superstar-in-the-making, joined from Vasco da Gama only in January but is already in the Brazil squad and is a fearsome opponent to handle. Portugal defender Antonio Silva, signed from Benfica in the summer, is settling in nicely. Brazilian striker Evanilson has hit form with goals in four of his last five games.

No wonder Rose has high expectations.

“I want to win every game and we want to be competitive in every competition,” said the coach who has managed two of Germany's biggest clubs — Borussia Dortmund and Leipzig.

Win the Europa League — just like English clubs Tottenham and Aston Villa have done the past two seasons — and Bournemouth will be in the Champions League next year, marking the next extraordinary chapter in its rise from the depths of English soccer.

Manchester City, which is continuing to play under a cloud after being found guilty of large-scale financial rule-breaking, and Arsenal are tied on points at the top of the standings and both have tough games in the ninth round.

City hosts Brighton on Saturday — a repeat of their English League Cup meeting on Wednesday, won by City on penalties — and Arsenal visits Liverpool in Sunday's only match.

Under-fire Michael Carrick appears to be in charge of Manchester United only on a match-by-match basis after back-to-back heavy losses to Como in the Champions League and Bournemouth in the league. Next up for United is Chelsea away on Saturday.

Erling Haaland was rested by Man City for the cup in midweek, so will be fresh as he continues to chase history. Haaland has scored in each of his last seven league games, meaning he is closing in on Jamie Vardy's record of scoring in 11 consecutive matches for Leicester in the 2015-16 season.

Chelsea striker Joao Pedro is out for several weeks with a thigh injury and that's a problem for manager Xabi Alonso. The Brazil international has missed two games this season and Chelsea lost both and didn't score in either of them.

Man United might be missing its leading specialist striker for longer. There has been no confirmation from the club but reports in the English media, including the BBC, say Benjamin Sesko is expected to be out until at least January with a shin injury. He hasn't played since mid-September.

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