Read our prediction for AZ Alkmaar vs Mariupol below. This preview was written by a sport journalist who is specialised in betting tips and predictions. Use our betting tips for the match between AZ Alkmaar vs Mariupol and you can increase your winnings!
AZ Alkmaar vs Mariupol Prediction & Betting tips
Not the AFAS Stadium in Alkmaar, but the Cars Jeans Stadium in The Hague on Thursday evening is the battlefield of the return between AZ and Mariupol in the third preliminaries of the Europa League. However, if it is up to the players and supporters of AZ, things will turn out just as much in The Hague as in Alkmaar. However, the team must remain on its guard, as with last week’s scoreless draw on Ukrainian soil, this diptych is far from being decided!
AZ Alkmaar:
With names such as Myron Boadu, Calvin Stengs and Oussama Idrissi, AZ currently has perhaps the best vanguard on the Dutch fields, but this talented super trio failed to bring Ukrainian Mariupol to its knees last week. The 0-0 from the first game still provides the Alkmaarders with a great starting position for reaching the play-offs of the Europa League, although the team of coach Arne Slot must be careful. After all, away goals are counted double, so in the event of a Ukrainian hit, the red shirts themselves must be at least twice accurate.
Yet in recent days it has hardly been about the all-decisive return this coming Thursday. AZ has escaped a huge disaster on Saturday evening, after part of the roof of the AFAS Stadium had collapsed on Saturday evening. Fortunately, AZ played an away game at RKC Waalwijk last weekend, because you shouldn’t think that something like that would have happened during a home game. Of course it is now investigated down to the bottom how something like this could have happened, so the upcoming period the Alkmaarders cannot make use of their home base. Both the Thursday evening game against Dinamo Tbilisi and the upcoming weekend match against FC Groningen have now been moved to the Cars Jeans Stadium in The Hague. The AZ fans now have to travel quite a bit to see their favorite club at work, but Teun Koopmeiners is not worried. ‘AZ is using buses and thousands of people are heading that way. So the atmosphere will be fine. The artificial grass in The Hague is also not an obstacle for us, because we have all played artificial grass for a long time in the youth academy. ‘
Mariupol:
Mariupol is still alive, although the Ukrainians owe this mainly to goalkeeper Rustam Khudzhamov. Mariupol was put back against the wall by AZ, but Khudzhamov kept the match of his life. “Incredible that we did not score,” said AZ defender Ron Vlaar afterwards.
Although Mariupol was able to see all corners of the field, the Ukrainians are in good shape. A clean sheet in-house in a European knockout match is nowadays worth gold, because if you then manage to put one in the basket, the opponent must immediately make two. Mariupol will of course park the bus on Thursday evening, then try to strike via a counter or a dead game moment. AZ is a team that likes to play on the attack, but the Alkmaarders are not allowed to lose sight of their defensive tasks.
AZ Alkmaar vs Mariupol head to head matches
08.08.19 EL Mariupol AZ Alkmaar 0 : 0