Without frills, AZ reaches the last preliminary round of the Conference League

AZ started the first European home game of the season with a lot of attacking spirit. Without the slightly injured players Jesper Karlsson and Mees de Wit, the AZ team had a chance after a chance in the initial phase. Especially Vangelis Pavlidis made a name for himself in the enemy goal area, only the Andorran goalie Josep Gomez was a difficult obstacle for the Greek striker. Just before the break, Ruben van Bommel finally broke the spell. The summer acquisition wonderfully shot the ball over Gomez, 1-0.

Chances

The picture remained the same in the second half. AZ controlled the game and had many chances. Pavlidis was able to score twice again within a few minutes after the tea break. So there was a lack of effectiveness at AZ, but on the other hand, the current leader of the Eredivisie gave little away defensively.

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Second Alkmaar goal

In the last half hour, coach Pascal Jansen made a lot of changes. This gave the Alkmaarders new energy, as substitutes Ernest Poku and Mayckel Lahdo were close to scoring. Especially the Swedish right winger hit the aluminum through the goalkeeper. Moments later, Lahdo was all right. After good preparatory work by another substitute Djordje Mihailovic, Lahdo was able to tap in easily.

The nine thousand football fans in Alkmaar did not see more goals. Many supporters left long before the final whistle.

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Next week AZ will play the play-offs for a place in the group stage of the Conference League. At home against SK Brann of Norway. But first AZ will visit RKC on Sunday, and that can be followed live on NH Radio. That game starts at 4:45 p.m.

Setup AZ: Ryan; Sugawara, Hatzidiakos, Bazoer (Penetra/61), Moller Wolfe (Kasius/77); Clasie, Mijnans, De Wit (Mihailovic/70); Odgaard (Lahdo/61), Pavlidis, Van Bommel (Poku/70)