Sunderland’s players are not just playing for their team-mates and their club, they are playing for a city and they are playing for the people.
This was a sentiment echoed by each and every player following the Black Cats’ thrilling 3-2 win over Chelsea at the Stadium of Light, but it was best summed up by Fabio Borini.
The Italian striker twice saw his former club take the lead on Wearside but his passion and intensity led by example, and he was richly rewarded as his strike levelled and lifted the roof off the SoL.
Strike partner Jermain Defoe did the rest and Sunderland moved to within one win of safety, and speaking to safc.com post-match Borini explained why the Black Cats will never stop fighting.
“We play for an important club. Sunderland means always believing and always fighting.
“It is a hard-working city and a hard-working football club and we had to show that today against the former champions, so it was unbelievable.
“We kept believing which made the difference,” continued Borini.
“We also got the extra push from the fans today especially when we twice went down against a good team, and that kept the belief.
“In the second period we were more aggressive, we worked harder and we created a lot.”