AZ’s Gertjan Verbeek satisfied with the 1-1 draw against Metalist Kharkiv – UEFA Europa League news
AZ Alkmaar head coach Gertjan Verbeek has expressed satisfaction on his side’s 1-1 draw against Metalist Kharkiv in the UEFA Europa League group stage encounter. The two sides went head-to-head at Metalist Stadium on Thursday, September 29.
The Alkmaar outfit made a great start to the opening half and outplayed the hosts. Occupying the top spot in the Eredivisie table, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/AZ-c38571 were brimming with confidence.
After pressing hard for the opening 25 minutes, the outfit from Alkmaar broke the deadlock through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jozy-Altidore-c19634. Ragnar Klavan played a brilliant through ball for the American ace, who made no mistake in finding the bottom right corner of the net.
AZ continued to dominate proceedings on the pitch and continued their search for the second. However, the home side’s back-line made sure that they do not concede another in the remaining action of the first-half.
The Yellow-Blues made a better start to the second-half and controlled the game from the beginning. Although AZ managed to threaten the hosts on a few occasions, the outfit from Kharkiv remained the better side of the two.
With 14 minutes left on the clock, it seemed likely that the Alkmaar outfit would emerge victorious by the end of 90 minutes. However, Taison’s strike from 20 yards dashed the visitors’ hopes of taking all three points back home.
Verbeek was relieved after the match ended in a 1-1 stalemate and revealed that his troops did well to secure a point, as the Ukrainian outfit made life very difficult for them in the second-half.
“If you see what we had to endure in the second-half, this is then a good result. We fought hard. In the opening 45 minutes, we were the better side undoubtedly. We created more chances. However, it was bit of our fault that we failed to dominate after that”,
Verbeek said while talking to journalists.
AZ will battle against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Austria-c2844 Vienna while Metalist Kharkiv will lock horns against Malmo FF in their next Europa League encounters on October 20.
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