S.C.U Torreense's league fixtures this season include meetings with the 'B' teams of Sporting, Benfica and Porto. But the Portuguese second division club, located 35 miles north of Lisbon, are in this season's Europa League after stunning giants Sporting to win the Taca de Portugal in May. "This is a landmark moment," Andre Sabino, the club's director of football and CEO tells BBC Sport.
Torreense have never played a European home match before but will end that run on Thursday when they host Sunderland ( ). Having already visited Norwegian side Lillestrom on their European debut, Torreense have further games against Ferencvaros, Ararat-Armenia, Celtic, Real Sociedad, Lech Poznan and Olympiacos before the end of January. Managed by Luis Tralhao, whose brother Joao is currently serving as an assistant to Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid, the club are hoping to do more than just make up the numbers.
"It is something extraordinary for Torreense. These are clubs with huge histories, strong identities and enormous European experience," Sabino adds. "To be able to share the same competition and compete against them is a privilege.
But we don't want to simply participate. We want to compete." Second-tier Beira-Mar played in the 1999-2000 Uefa Cup, although they were a top-flight team at the time of qualifying. But Torreense are the first team from the second division to qualify by winning the Taca de Portugal.
"The Portuguese Cup has been played since 1938 in its current model and it was the first time that a second division team won it," Portuguese football journalist and ex-Benfica goalkeeper Jose Delgado tells BBC Sport. "You can imagine when they could defeat a giant club like Sporting in the final, it was quite a surprise and for the city, it's something very, very special." After beating Lillestrom, they have already exceeded the expectations of some. "I thought that Torreense could go through the Europa League with no points," adds Delgado.
"The truth is that they already have three points and that is something. "It's something that I don't think will ever happen again in Portuguese football. But Torreense has this." With Portugal ranked outside Uefa's top five leagues, every club in the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League has a responsibility to perform well to earn their nation important ranking points.
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