Southampton defender Jose Fonte has said that he is looking forward to playing in the Europa League this season.

The Saints will begin their first European campaign in 11 years with a third qualifying round clash against Vitesse on Thursday.

They warmed up for the match by claiming a 3-0 victory over Feyenoord last week, and Fonte believes that his side have the quality needed to reach the group stages.

"It will be like a dream, so I'm looking forward to it, obviously," he told the Daily Echo.

"Feyenoord is a bigger club, and we still showed that we were levels above them, so we're going to approach this game like any other - full detail and attention, and we will do our best to win.

"It's a long, long competition. First, we need to make sure we're in the group stages and then we go step by step, but, for now, we need to focus on Vitesse, because that's the next challenge."

Southampton will play the second leg of their tie against Vitesse on August 6, three days before their opening match of the Premier League season against Newcastle United.