The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Esteban-Alvarado-c12908’s performance and insisted that his side deserved to win in the first-leg of UEFA Europa League quarter-final.
AZ Alkmaar head coach, Gertjan Verbeek, was pleased with his side 2-1 win over Valencia in the first-leg of UEFA Europa League quarter-final at AFAS Stadion on Thursday, March 29.
The Dutch trainer heaped praise on his side’s performance and has admitted that they deserved to emerge victorious.
“We have shown what we are capable of. I think, we were on top of our game. It was unpleasant to concede a goal, but we have showed that we can score against them”, Verbeek was quoted as saying to Voetbal International.
The former Feyenoord Rotterdam coach admitted that his side staged a better show after the break despite conceding the equaliser.
“We played well after the break though http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863 scored the equaliser. We then managed to pull things back and scored the winner. We are very satisfied. This win will certainly boost our morale for the return leg. But we still have a long way to go before
sealing our place in the semi-final”, Verbeek added.
Valencia commenced proceedings away from home brightly and created plenty of goalscoring opportunities in the opening 45 minutes. However, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Esteban-c12907
Alvarado, who certainly gave his best performance of the season.
Brett Holman’s strike on the stroke of half-time against the run of play gave the home side a lead. The Australian ace volleyed Maarten Martens’ corner perfectly into the top corner of the net.
Los Che restored parity six minutes after the break through Mehmet Topal. However, the home side managed to re-establish their one goal lead in the 79th minute when Martens coolly slotted home on Holman’s pass inside the penalty area to seal the
win.
The AZ head coach was all praise for his side and especially his side’s goalkeeper, who made some brilliant saves to restrict the visiting side from hitting the back of the net.
“I think, Esteban was superb. He played one of his best games of the season”, Verbeek concluded.
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