AZ knows where it stands in the group stage of the Conference League. The Alkmaarders are linked to Aston Villa, Legia Warsaw and Zrinsjki. AZ is in group E.
The Alkmaarders crawled through the eye of the needle on Thursday evening after a penalty series against the Norwegian SK Brann. Newcomer Alexandre Penetra made the decisive penalty (6-5), after it was 4-4 over two games. AZ reached the semi-finals of the Conference League last season and lost to the later winner West Ham United.
Text continues below the tweet.
To view this content, you must accept cookies.
Aston Villa qualified for the Conference League on Thursday evening by eliminating Hibernian. Well-known players include world champion Emilio Martínez, Youri Tielemans and Philippe Coutinho.
Just like AZ, Legia Warsaw needed penalties to advance to the group stage. FC Midtylland was defeated 6-5. Zrinjski (Bosnia and Herzegovina) is the least known team in the group. They went down on Thursday against LASK Linz in the preliminary round of the Europa League (3-2 over two games).
AZ closes the Eredivisie weekend on Sunday evening with an away match against Vitesse (4.45 p.m.). NH Sport will give extensive attention to this game during our radio broadcast.