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sport">In the previous 20 cases where a European ticket was divided by play-offs, it only ended up six times with the club that finished highest in the regular competition. Last year Feyenoord did manage to do that, resulting in a great season in the Conference League. AZ, which finished one place above Vitesse with ten points more, hopes to repeat that trick in the play-offs, but will have to be sharper both in the front and defensively for that on Sunday afternoon.
sport">Before the start of the game, Gelredome said goodbye to a series of players, for whom it was the last home game. Riechedly Bazoer, Danilho Doekhi and Loïs Openda received a framed photo and a flower. Such treatment would normally have also been given to Eli Dasa, but the right-back, who is also leaving due to an expiring contract, dropped his employer to celebrate his wedding in Israel. He hadn’t considered a play-off final when planning his wedding, so he simply traveled to his homeland.
Wijndal
sport">His replacement was Romaric Yapi, who fell through the ice during the away game against AZ in the competition. Letsch hoped Yapi would be a quick learner, but the former Paris Saint-Germain youth player was a weak spot in the Vitesse defense from the start.
sport">The most prominent absentee at AZ was international Owen Wijndal. There was hope in Alkmaar that the captain could be prepared, but it seems that he has played his last game of the season. And given the interest in Wijndal from several clubs, including Ajax, perhaps his last for the Alkmaar club anyway.
sport">Substitute Milos Kerkez had a hard time at AZ, as the Alkmaarders initially did not show a strong appearance in total. Vitesse continued the positive line of the home match against FC Utrecht and took the lead. Openda was much too quick for the AZ defenders and his cross was hit by Thomas Buitink (1-0).
AZ came alongside shortly after the break.
Ⓒ ANP/HH
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Personal bloodletting
sport">Just before the deficit, AZ suffered a sensitive personnel loss, when Fredrik Midtsjø had to drop out with a hamstring injury. The Norwegian was replaced by Tijjani Reijnders.
sport">AZ straightened out after the double setback and Jesper Karlsson was close to equalizing, but his curled shot after Million Manhoef’s miscalculation hit the post. The Swede, together with Jordy Clasie, stood out at AZ, which would completely control the game during the game.
sport">Just before half-time, Vitesse got another chance to make the 2-0 via the lightning-fast Openda, which passed Martins Indi, but the attacker couldn’t get the ball past goalkeeper Peter Vindahl. In the second half it was AZ that beat the clock in Arnhem. Jansen’s team dominated the game and tied the score with a shot by Clasie, which was changed direction by Vitesse substitute Tomas Hajek.
Openda
sport">After the equalizer, AZ seemed to press on towards a victory, but Vitesse bravely held on and managed to wrestle more and more from the pressure towards the end of the match. Who else but goldcrest Openda caused great joy in the well-filled stands by popping the ball out of the spin behind Vindahl (2-1). Due to all the injuries and other absentees, Letsch barely had any substitutions at his disposal and he had to bring in the youth players Miliano Jonathans, Gyliano de Regt and Marcus Steffen, but the very young Vitesse finished the three points. The applause was for Openda, which has played a crucial role for Vitesse with 24 goals in 49 matches this season, and has given the Arnhem team hope for another season of European football.
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