AZ was eagerly looking forward to the qualities of Zinho Vanheusden, but due to a rehabilitation, it was not yet time to play minutes. Tomorrow night against Dnipro-1, that may well change. The Belgian defender is in fact for the first time in the match selection of AZ for the Conference League match against the Ukrainians.
The 23-year-old Vanheusden made the switch from Internazionale to AZ this summer (on a rental basis with option to buy). It didn’t come to playing minutes yet, because the simple international of Belgium was still on his way back from a knee injury. He did, however, play half last week in an AZ friendly match against AS Monaco (4-2 win).
bazoer
Besides Vanheusden, Riechedly Bazoer has also flown to Slovakia, where the match will be played due to the war situation in Ukraine. The midfielder came transfer-free from Vitesse and made his debut in the European home game with Dundee United FC (7-0). Since then, the midfielder has been sidelined with an injury.
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Absentees
An important absentee from the Alkmaarders is captain Bruno Martins Indi. He previously missed the matches against NEC (1-1) and FC Emmen (0-3) due to an injury and also has to miss the first group match in the Conference League. Vangelis Pavlidis and Jesper Karlsson will also remain in the Netherlands. They are struggling with more serious injuries and are not available for the time being.
On Thursday evening, AZ will kick off against Dnipro-1 in Košice at 21.00.