AZ Alkmaar's Vangelis Pavlidis scores their first goal against Anderlecht during their Europa Conference League Quarter Final Second Leg match at at AFAS Stadion, Alkmaar, Netherlands
ALKMAAR--AZ Alkmaar has reached the Europa Conference League semi-finals after a penalty shootout win over Anderlecht. The clash finished 2-2 on aggregate after a 2-0 win for AZ.
Down 2-0 from the first leg, AZ needed a quick start, That was exactly what they did as Vangelis Pavlidis netted twice in the opening 15. minutes.
The first goal for the home side was a penalty after a foul by Michael Murillo, before the striker finished off a well-crafted move started by an excellent pass from Tijjani Reijnders.
Pavlidis scuffed a chance to score a hattrick and Milos Kerkez also missed a big chance as AZ went into the break 2-0 ahead. Pavlidis did not reappear for the second half after an injury and Mayckel Lahdo came on.
AZ remained in control but they could not find the third goal with Kerkez hitting the post, while Bart Verbruggen also made a number of saves.
The game headed to extra time during which Jens Odgaard thought he had won the game for AZ, but his goal was disallowed for offside.
A penalty shootout was needed in which AZ came out on top as they netted all four of their spot kicks. The winning penalty was netted by young striker Mexx Meerdink, who will now start for AZ’s Under 19s in their UEFA Youth League semi-final against Sporting Portugal, today, Friday.
AZ will face West Ham United in the Europa Conference League’s semi-final.
