Fifteen years after a League One defeat to Bury, Bournemouth welcome seven-time European champions AC Milan to the Europa League stage.
Few football stories capture the sport's wild swings quite like this one. Fifteen years to the day after Bournemouth lost at home to Bury in League One, they are hosting AC Milan, one of the most decorated clubs on the continent, in the Europa League.
In League One, the idea of Bournemouth facing a seven-time champion of Europe would have sounded like fantasy. Back then the focus was on grinding out results in the third tier and surviving the weekly slog of lower-league football. Now the club is welcoming a giant of the European game to its own backyard.
Milan arrive with a heritage few clubs can match, and a reputation built on decades of continental glory. For Bournemouth, that makes the occasion about more than three points or a spot in the table. It is a measure of how far a club of their size has travelled, and proof that patient building and bold ambition can rewrite a story.
Expect a charged atmosphere, a proud fanbase and a team determined not to be starstruck. Whatever the final whistle brings, Bournemouth's journey from a defeat to Bury to a night against Milan is already one of the great underdog tales of this Europa League campaign.
