Twente settles the score with Almere City and remains on course for the Champions League preliminary round

NOS Football•today, 8:39 PM

View the summary of FC Twente – Almere City

FC Twente has come a little closer to the (third) qualifying round of the Champions League. The number three in the Premier League defeated Almere City 3-1 at home and now has eight points more than AZ, which will only play this round on Sunday (away at NEC).

The battle for the coveted third place in the final rankings could come to a head next Sunday, when Twente visits its Alkmaar competitor on Liberation Day. Fourth place, good for the group stage of the Europa League, can no longer escape the Enschede team.

Almere City, which is making an excellent debut in the Premier League under the soon-to-depart coach Alex Pastoor and will also be able to admire it at the highest level next season, has already been without a win in the competition for eight matches, but has collected the necessary points with six draws. together.

A draw at Twente would be nice, but it soon seemed impossible. After Nordin Bakker, back under the bar for the Flevolanders after his failure on March 9 against FC Utrecht, had saved a long shot from Sem Steijn after ten minutes, he shortly afterwards missed a similar effort by Mathias Kjølø.

The quick 1-0 could have gotten the home team going, but that turned out not to be the case. The only chance for peace – Steijn once again bumped into Bakker – came about by chance.

Shortly after the break, Steijn shot a free kick narrowly wide, while Bakker parried a shot from Michal Sadilek. The Twente offensive nevertheless led to the 2-0, although Steijn’s goal – again he – was initially disallowed for offside. However, the goalscorer had been given the ball by Almeerder Damian van Bruggen.

The pressure from FC Twente, Almere City’s first opponent in the Premier League last August (1-4 after a 0-0 halftime score), continued. But a third goal failed to materialize.

In fact, the Tukkers suddenly had to watch their step when Kornelius Norman Hansen completed a rare Almeerder counter with a nice strike in the 73rd minute: 2-1. Moments earlier, Yoann Cathline had put Twente goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall to work for the first time this evening.

The home crowd did not have to fear an unexpected loss of points for long. After good perseverance from Younes Taha, who had just come on, Daan Rots was able to attack Bakker and score the decisive 3-1.