AZ defeated Club Brugge in an exhibition match. The Alkmaarders won – after a quick deficit – 2-1 in Bruges. Yukinari Sugawara scored the decisive goal on a pass from Ernest Poku.
AZ did not start sharply in Bruges. Jordy Clasie played the ball back to Pantelis Hatzidiakos, but he was surprised by Andreas Skov Olsen. The Dane then passed keeper Mathew Ryan after two minutes: 1-0. The Alkmaarders did not give up and quickly reached the same level as Club Brugge.
A cross from Mees de Wit, who replaced the departed Milos Kerkez at left back, headed Mats Rits into his own goal. AZ was then able to take the lead via Jesper Karlsson and Vangelis Pavlidis, but goalkeeper Simon Mignolet turned the attempts.
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The second half started quietly for AZ. However, the Alkmaarders did take the lead. Yukinari Sugawara captured the ball in midfield, passed Ernest Poku and enabled the Japanese to make it 2-1. AZ got away well in the final phase. A corner from the team from Bruges was headed full on the post by defender Dedryck Boyata. That also happened moments later with a far free kick from substitute Djordje Mihailovic.
The score did not change anymore, so that AZ won in Bruges. Southampton is the next opponent for the Alkmaarders in exactly one week.
Setup AZ: Ryan; Sugawara (Kasius/84), Hatzidiakos, Bazoer, M. De Wit (Møller Wolfe/69); Clasie, Mijnans (Mihailovic/84), D. De Wit; Poku (Goldmine/69), Pavlidis (Meerdink/84), Karlsson (Van Bommel/60)