AZ has taken the group win in the Conference League. The Alkmaarders won in a direct game for the group win 2-1 against Dnipro-1 from Ukraine. Vangelis Pavlidis came in at halftime and made the winning team for coach Pascal Jansen’s team just before time.
The Alkmaarders started the match against Dnipro-1 in an unchanged line-up. AZ dominated in the initial phase and took the lead in the ninth minute via Jens Odgaard. The Danish striker headed home from a cross by Jesper Karlsson: 1-0.
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Then Dnipro crawled out of its shell and forced several chances. It was close to a header from Arem Dovbyk and a long shot from Ruslan Babenko resulted in the equalizer. Sam Beukema should have doubled the lead, but hit the keeper with a header and hit the post in the rebound. The leader of Ukraine equalized five minutes before half-time. Dovbyk fumbled in a cross from the left and scored the deserved equalizer.
After the break, AZ looked weaker than Dnipro, who would insure themselves of the group win if they won. The visitors had the better chances. Dnipro was helped into the saddle a number of times by defensive shooting at the Alkmaarders, but each time trainer Pascal Jansen’s team could breathe a sigh of relief.
Supersub Pavlidis
Both AZ and Dnipro made little claim to the victory. Halfway through the second half, the game was deadlocked and both teams seemed to believe it. Where the duel seemed to go out like a candle, Vangelis Pavlidis was outlawed four minutes before the end. The Greek striker headed AZ back into the lead from a cross by Yukinari Sugawara. Dnipro was still very close to the equalizer, but saw a header end up on the post.
Thanks to the win, AZ takes the group win in the Conference League. As a result, it skips one round in the knockout phase and only returns to the last sixteen at the third level in Europe in March.
AZ setup: concealed; Hatzidiakos, Beukema, Dekker (Pavlidis/46), Kerkez; Clasie (Bazoer/88), Reijnders (P. Koopmeiners/88), D. De Wit; Sugawara, Odgaard (Lahdo/65), Karlsson (Van Brederode/65)