The first goal that AFC Bournemouth ever scored in Europe could be heard out on the Bay of Biscay. The second sounded round San Sebastián soon after. A tradition from Real Sociedad’s old Atotxa ground, recovered at Anoeta in 2009, dictates that a single firework is set off every time the visitors score while two are lit when the home team do; that way those out to sea know the score. And so it was that at 21.41 on a Thursday night in September 2026, Justin Kluivert found the net and Juan Iturralde ran out into the street to let everyone what had happened.
Back in Dorset and high in Anoeta, they knew; they had waited their whole lives for this and it was a nice way to mark the history they made, announcing their arrival on the continent with a victory in the city where it all began for Andoni Iraola, the manager who brought them here.
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