He’s back. And how. Jesper Karlsson made his comeback in the base of AZ after months of injury and immediately had a large share in AZ’s 4-1 victory at FC Groningen.
The game was not even twenty minutes old when the Swede, who was struggling with hamstring problems and has not been in action for a minute this season, had already signed two goals. In the third minute it was Dani de Wit who hit the rebound after goalkeeper Michael Verrips couldn’t control a low shot from Karlsson, and more than fifteen minutes later the attacker hit himself. He did so in a controlled manner on the advice of Tijjani Reijnders.
Admittedly, both goals from AZ were preceded by a lot of Gronings bumbling. Goalkeeper Verrips, midfielder Laros Duarte and defender Neraysho Kasanwirjo made an amateur mistake on the goals. It went from bad to worse for the home team, which already got a whistle concert on its roof in the first half because of bad football. The supporters in the Euroborg – not spoiled this season anyway – became even cynical by playing the ball around in the back, something the team did frequently, and greeted them with cheers.
AZ seemed to take the three points freewheeling, but towards the end of the first half it was a bit disappointing. First Dani de Wit dropped out with probably a hamstring injury, then Groningen regained faith in his own abilities thanks to Ricardo Pepi. The American international won a game of wrestling against Sam Beukema and lying on the ground he rammed the connecting goal against the ropes.
Karlsson did not return to the field after the break and his replacement Mayckel Lahdo gave his calling card after three minutes with a beautiful shot at the bottom of the bar. AZ remained the better team and also expressed the dominance in the score after an hour. Outstanding Reijnders combined through the middle and then gave Milos Kerkez clear path towards the goal. He finished in a controlled manner.
The freewheeling came after all, because AZ had nothing to fear from Groningen in the remainder. Lahdo even made it 4-1, which means that AZ now skips over PSV in the rankings. The Alkmaarders are even frontrunners when Ajax chokes on Go Ahead Eagles.
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