Vangelis Pavlivis has only just returned from his ankle injury and is immediately worth gold for AZ. The Greek striker headed against Dnipro-1 scores the winning goal (2-1). “Mentally this is an important goal for me,” said Pavlidis afterwards.
Against FC Volendam (2-1 win) Pavlidis made his first minutes again after several months of absence. Against Dnipro he came into the field for the Alkmaarders at half-time. It was striking that he remained standing until the end, while trainer Pascal Jansen said earlier that he could play for a maximum of half an hour.
Great move
Maxim Dekker, who replaces the injured Bruno Martins Indi in the heart of the defence, was the child of the bill. “He has the water up to his lips,” says Jansen about the only 18-year-old Dekker. “We needed a new impulse and if you can bring Pavlidis into the team then that is a great move.”
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Maximum half an hour
“We knew that he could play a maximum of half,” says Jansen about Pavlidis’ playing time. Still, according to the trainer, the Alkmaarders took no risk by leaving him standing for longer than half an hour. “This fits in well with his rehabilitation.”
However, Pavlidis himself did not expect to stand until the end. “I thought I would play for thirty minutes. It felt good and I’m happy to help the team,” said Pavlidis, who is on his way to getting back to normal. “It’s going well. The ankle remains stable and the winter break is around the door so I can take my rest again.”
Thanks to the victory over Dnipro-1, AZ is group winner in the Conference League. Until the winter break, the Alkmaarders will play two more games in the Eredivisie. The meeting with RKC Waalwijk awaits next Sunday and the team will visit PSV next week.