From Bury to AC Milan: Bournemouth's journey to 'dreamland'

Fifteen years to the day after they lost at home to Bury in League One, Bournemouth host seven-time champions of Europe AC Milan in the Europa League. Bournemouth play AC Milan 15 years to the day they lost at home to Bury in League One "It's not long ago we were playing Oldham Athletic and Hartlepool United in League One. Now I'm about to watch us play AC Milan. Fifteen years to the day after Bournemouth lost 2-1 at home to Bury in the third tier of English football, the Cherries host seven-time champions of Europe AC Milan in the Europa League on Thursday (20:00 BST). It is a game between the club that refused to die against the 11-time European Cup finalists on what promises to be a momentous night in the history of the 127-year-old Dorset club.

"Over the last decade, my hometown club has achieved dreamland," Tony Pulis, who played in Bournemouth's defence before managing them from 1992-94 and still lives in the area, tells BBC Sport. "It's an unbelievable story, when I think back to what the club was like when I was player, coach and then manager there in the 1980s and early 1990s, but one that hopefully just keeps going." Bournemouth's troubled past and their subsequent climb up the leagues is well documented –