AZ did excellent business on Thursday evening with a view to qualifying for the knockout phase of the Conference League. The team of trainer Pascal Jansen was too strong for CFR Cluj in an extremely mediocre duel with 2-0. Albert Gudmundsson looked to be the man of the match, but was joined on the scoreboard by Vangelis Pavlidis, who secured the victory in the final phase. AZ is sovereign in the lead in Group D with ten points from four matches. The Alkmaarders have not lost a game yet.
The game was barely five minutes away, when the home team already took the lead. After a tailor-made cross from Jesper Karlsson, Gudmundsson controlled the ball with his left arm and chest, after which he scored diagonally: 1-0. Because there was no VAR present, the hit was wrongly approved. It was the fastest goal for AZ in a European match since November 2004, when Stein Huysegems scored against Auxerre in the UEFA Cup. Gudmundsson’s revival proved a rarity in the first half, which was further riddled with mistakes and sloppiness.
help?? Goal ?? AZ takes the lead very quickly! ?? ESPN #azclu #UECL pic.twitter.com/hMQExDrzXk
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) Nov 4, 2021
Gudmundsson still had an opportunity to double the score, but rebounded on a shot by Pavlidis into the side net for open goal. Not much later, the visitors were happy to continue the game with ten men, when Denis Alibec committed an outrageous foul on Pantelis Hatzidiakos. The striker kicked the AZ central defender from behind after he lost the ball. “What a terrible team. There are a few idiots on the field”, Pierre van Hooijdonk judged in the half-time of the game. ESPN.
In the second half, the level was nothing to write home about. AZ wanted to, but couldn’t manage to play football through the organized wall of the Romanians. A shot by Yukinari Sugawara was caught by goalkeeper Cristian Balgradean and Gudmundsson headed just over after a cross from Karlsson. Cluj countered that with a shot from Ciprian Deac, who went just wide. Five minutes before the end, the same Deac had the equalizer on the shoe, but he hit the right post with a nice shot. A minute later it was on the other side. On a pass from Karlsson, it was a breeze for Pavlidis to decide the game from close range: 2-0.
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