AZ’s defeat at West Ham United is sour (2-1), but it does offer perspective for the home game. “I think we had the game under control until the sixtieth or seventieth minute. We then conceded the goals in the way we had been warned,” says Sven AZ midfielder Mijnans.
Mijnans immediately put his finger on the sore spot afterwards. “We are just not deadly enough for the goal. That is a shame, because I thought we were very good at the ball. You also get energy from the lead, but we cannot reward that in the final phase.”
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Defender Mees de Wit saw – just like his teammate Mijnans – that AZ controlled the game. “We give away two moments and the ball is immediately in our hands twice.”
After Tijjani Reijnders’ opening goal, AZ remained the dominant team. “They come from a nasty penalty at 1-1. It started to storm here too and then they also come to 2-1.”
De Wit does not normally play in the base and was lucky that leftback Milos Kerkez was suspended. “This is a childhood dream: to play in a semi-final of a European tournament. It was very nice and I also enjoyed the fans.”