On his return, Jesper Karlsson immediately proved his worth. The Swede was accurate and therefore had a share in the victory over FC Groningen. Besides the three points, the victory also gave the Alkmaarders the lead, 1-4.
After months of injury, Jesper Karlsson returned to the base at AZ. The Swede was injured in May against Vitesse, the last game of last season. Jens Odgaard and Mees de Wit were missing from the Alkmaarders, just like the injured Bruno Martins Indi. He was replaced by Maxim Dekker. The returned Karlsson was at the basis of AZ’s quick lead. The Swede’s first shot was stopped by Michael Verrips. Dani de Wit’s rebound went in: 0-1.
The opening goal turned out to be the start of a simple first half where AZ hardly ran into problems. The score was doubled within twenty minutes, after Tijjani Reijnders took advantage of a mistake. He put the ball back to Karlsson, who shot the ball hard. Groningen got away well a few minutes later. A marker from Van Brederode went just in front of the goal. AZ seemed to be sitting on roses with this, but that changed just before half-time. After a long ball from Neraysho Kasanwirjo, Maxim Dekker and Sam Beukema were on the wrong foot. Ricardo Pepi gratefully took advantage of this: 2-1.
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Both teams fired warning shots early in the second half. Groningen came out well through Tomas Suslov. His hard pass was not touched by anyone. Substitute Mayckel Lahdo saw his shot bounce back from the bottom of the bar. It was Milos Kerkez, who crowned a good game with the 3-1. He was sent deeply by Reijnders and did not fail eye to eye with Verrips. Substitute Mayckel Lahdo decided the game completely by scoring the 4-1.
Due to the victory, the Alkmaarders are at the top of the Eredivisie – at least temporarily. PSV went down hard in Leeuwarden at SC Cambuur: 3-0. If Ajax beats Go Ahead Eagles, the team from Amsterdam will take the lead again. AZ’s next game will be against Apollon Limassol next Thursday. Kick-off is 21:00.
AZ setup: concealed; Hatzidiakos, Dekker, Kerkez (Vanheusden/87); Reijnders, Clasie, D. De Wit (Bazoer/38); Sugawara, Karlsson (Lahdo/46), Van Brederode (Koopmeiners/77)