Vangelis Pavlidis seemed to once again prove his worth for AZ on Saturday evening. The Greek striker was well on his way to become the match winner against Sparta Rotterdam. Vito van Crooij plunged AZ into deep mourning in the final seconds by scoring a free kick from a great distance: 1-1.
The start was difficult for AZ, which made wrong choices in passing and therefore did not have time to attack. After fifteen minutes the first danger came from Fredrik Midtsjø’s foot, but his powder was tagged over quite simply by Maduka Okoye. In the counter-punch, Sparta got an opportunity. Younes Namli shot just wide from a distance. After Bruno Martins Indi lost the ball unnecessarily, Lennart Thy was given plenty of time to lash out, the striker then shot straight at Peter Vindahl.
Just before half time, the Alkmaarders had a better phase, Vangelis Pavlidis tried to outwit Okoye with a heel. Just before that, the goalkeeper had plucked the ball from the feet of Tijjani Reijnders in time. Zakaria Aboukhlal got the biggest chance for AZ. On a pass from Owen Wijndal, he had the 1-0 on his shoe, the bet went well wide. The ensuing attack ended with a shot by Pavlidis from the wrong side of the post.
Deep mourning AZ
Out of nowhere, the Alkmaarders quickly took the lead in the second half. Aboukhlal sent Pavlidis on the brink of offside at Okoye. The Greek kept the ball well and shot the ball into the far corner behind the goalkeeper: 0-1. There followed a few minutes in which the VAR studied the goal for the alleged offside, but the goal just stood. Reijnders created the next big chance after sixty minutes by almost surprising the Sparta goalkeeper in the short corner.
Due to the small margin, it continued to pinch for AZ at certain times. A punt from Thy was saved by Vindahl and substitute Tom Beugelsdijk and Sven Mijnans were unable to score from close range. However, the victory no longer seemed to slip out of the hands of the Alkmaarders, until Vito van Crooij caused deep mourning in the AZ camp from a free kick: 1-1.
AZ setup: Vindahl; Sugawara, Beukema, Martins Indi, Wijndal; Midtsjø, Clasie (Hatzidiakos/87), Reijnders; Aboukhlal (Evjen/80), Pavlidis (Sowah/80), Karlsson (Witry/87)
Watch Van Crooij’s free kick below: