In an anything but entertaining duel, AZ took the full loot on Thursday evening. In the soaking wet Slovakia, the Alkmaarders won with minimal difference from the Ukrainian team Dnipro-1. Dani de Wit scored the only goal of the match after more than an hour of play.
With Riechedly Bazoer and Zinho Vanheusden on the bench, AZ started the first game of the Conference League group stage with the usual players. Dnipro-1 left the initiative to the Alkmaarders and collapsed very compactly. AZ had a hard time dealing with that. In the first half, the current number three of the Dutch league did not create a chance. And they were lucky that they were not faced with a backlog. AZ defender Sam Beukema slipped the ball against his own post after more than fifteen minutes.
Dani de Wit
AZ came out slightly better in the second half. After an hour of play, the unlucky playing Jens Odgaard accidentally shot a ball against the crossbar. And not much later, AZ managed to score. In the 63rd minute, substitute Yukinari Sugawara sent a cross from the right and Dani de Wit scored the opening goal.
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clean sheet
After the lead, the rigid Ukrainians gave away some more space in the back, but AZ could not take advantage of that. Sam Beukema was closest to 0-2. The defender headed just wide from a corner. On the other hand, Hobie Verhulst rarely had to take action. And that meant another clean sheet for the Alkmaar goalie. His eighth of the season.
After round one, AZ is at the top of Group E. FC Vaduz and Apollon Limasol played a 0-0 draw against each other. Next week, AZ will take on FC Vaduz in-house.
AZ setup: concealed; Hatzidiakos (Sugawara/61), Beukema, Dekker, Kerkez (M. De Wit/61); Clasie, Reijnders, Clasie, D. De Wit; Evjen, Odgaard (Lahdo/61), Van Brederode (Bazoer/89)