NOS Football•yesterday, 6:50 PM•Amended yesterday, 10:06 PM
View the summary of AZ – FC Twente
AZ has made the battle for third place in the Premier League exciting again by beating home competitor FC Twente: 2-1. The victory keeps the Alkmaarders in sight of third place, which is now occupied by Twente and entitles them to play in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
The difference between the two teams is now two points, with two games to go.
Early lead
A beautiful pass from Daan Rots to Ricky van Wolfswinkel led to the 1-0 for Twente after five minutes. Naci Ünüvar fired the first shot, but it bounced off goalkeeper Mathew Ryan. Sem Steijn still scored on the rebound, after Riechedly Bazoer had tripped when he wanted to clear the ball.
Before halftime, Twente had more chances, while Yukinari Sugawara failed to equalize on behalf of AZ from a promising position.
After the break, AZ needed less than a minute to score the equalizer. Vangelis Pavlidis opened with a through ball to Ibrahim Sadiq. The Ghanaian saw his shot turned away, but Ruben van Bommel found the net on the rebound.
Painful slide
With 25 minutes to go, AZ took the lead after a slide by Alec Van Hoorenbeeck, who got the ball as the last man in the defense and simply slipped away. Pavlidis couldn’t believe his luck and was able to go to goal to score.
The 2-1 was a ‘gift’ for Pavlidis: ‘Can happen to anyone’
Pavlidis is the second AZ player to score 28 goals in the Premier League, after Kees Kist in 1979 (34 goals) and 1982 (29 goals). Moreover, the Greek is now at the top of the top scorer rankings, with one goal more than Luuk de Jong.
Twente continued to push in the final phase, but AZ held on, making the battle for third place in the last two rounds very exciting.
