ANP
NOS Voetbal•vandaag, 20:55
AZ drew 1-1 against Galatasaray, one of the top teams in the Europa League, on Thursday evening. The Alkmaarders took an early lead in their own stadium and played entertainingly at times, but given Galatasaray’s chances they were not unfortunate with a draw.
With seven points from five games, AZ is still competing for a place in the intermediate round of the second European club tournament.
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With the leader of Turkey, one of the few undefeated teams came to visit. AZ hoped for a repeat of three weeks ago, when it recorded a nice win over Fenerbahçe (3-1).
Flying start
Trainer Maarten Martens rated Galatasaray at least as highly as Fenerbahçe, but wanted to see courage and courage from his team. The Belgian soon got what he longed for when Sven Mijnans responded attentively to a loose ball after a minute and a half and scored the 1-0.
Pro ShotsSven Mijnans
Wingers Ruben van Bommel and Mayckel Lahdo then had good opportunities to give AZ a bigger lead, but were unable to get the ball past Galatasaray’s experienced goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.
For the Turks, the game was created by the ever active Gabriel Sara and through veteran Dries Mertens. The 37-year-old former PSV player asserted himself from a free role with smart passes and especially his measured crosses.
Own goal
Strikers Michy Batshuayi and Victor Osimhen were given the opportunity to score several times on a pass from Mertens, but did not have their sights set. Just before half time, Galatasaray – with some luck – came alongside.
Peer Koopmeiners unfortunately ran a cross from Osimhen, of course from a cross from Mertens, into his own goal.
AZ goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet, replacement for the injured Rome Jayden Owusu-Oduro, had to start after the break. First he stormed off his line to intercept a deep pass, which just ended well with the help of Koopmeiners.
Moments later, Batshuayi headed from close range and saved Zoet, who then reached the ball even faster than Osimhen and was able to clear it.
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Zoet (33) returned to the Netherlands this summer as a stand-in at AZ after four seasons at Italian Spezia. It was five years ago, at the time at PSV’s goal, that he last played a European match. He kept AZ afloat against Galatasaray. No matter how restless it sometimes looked.
Red card Smith
Abdülkerim Bardakci headed against the post in the final phase, dominated by Galatasaray, after which AZ substitute Kees Smit – who was still the star against Fenerbahçe – collected two yellow cards in a short time and therefore had to leave the field with a red card. Hakim Ziyech was also allowed to come in for Galatasaray, too short to make his mark.
- ReutersDries Mertens, standout on the Turkish side
- ANPKees Smit is sent off the field
Everything seemed to be going wrong for AZ when Osimhen ran away from the goal in injury time, cheering, but his goal was disallowed for offside.
AZ is currently in fifteenth place in the Europa League and still plays against Loedogorets (away), AS Roma (home) and Ferencváros (away) in the competition phase.
