AZ faces a tough evening in Alkmaar in the group stage of the Conference League. Aston Villa, number five in England, comes to visit with a truckload of star players. AZ captain Jordy Clasie played in England for some time and sees that tomorrow evening’s opponent has undergone a metamorphosis. “Aston Villa has one of the strongest selections,” says Clasie about the team worth millions.
Aston Villa’s selection represents a market value of around 630 million euros. For comparison: AZ amounts to 97.6 million euros. Among them are goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, the Argentinian world champion, Calum Chambers (former Arsenal), Clément Lenglet (former Barcelona), Lucas Digne (former Paris Saint-Germain), the Belgian prodigy Youri Tielemans and Moussa Diaby. The latter was bought from Bayer Leverkusen for 55 million euros last summer. “They have invested. The core of the team has remained the same,” coach Pascal Jansen said at the press conference.
English top
Last weekend West Ham United became that AZ plunged into mourning in the semi-finals of the Conference League last season, wiped off the field 4-1 at Villa Park. In the Premier League, Aston Villa is in fifth place, two points less than Manchester City and Arsenal and one point behind Liverpool. “They are in a good phase. They have a lot of quality in the team,” says AZ captain Jordy Clasie.
Text continues below the video.
On the other hand, AZ is also having a great season in the Premier League. Of the nine competition matches, the Alkmaarders won eight and only drew against Heracles Almelo. In the European competitions it is significantly more difficult. In the group stage lost to Zrinjski Moster (4-3) and won it with great difficulty Legia Warsaw (1-0).
Unrest all around
After the win over Legia Warsaw, things went wrong again in Alkmaar regarding a European match. Two players from the Polish club were arrested after they assaulted a security guard and Legia fans also misbehaved. Things also went wrong in May after the match against West Ham United. Then dozens of AZ fans stormed a section with West Ham supporters.
The match between AZ and Aston Villa starts tomorrow evening at 6.45 pm in Alkmaar. Both teams have three points from the first two games in the Conference League group stage.