AZ Alkmaar needs to come from behind next week to reach the Europa Conference League final after falling to a 2-1 loss against West Ham United in London.
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Pascal Jansen was forced into one change from the draw against Ajax at the weekend with Milos Kerkez suspended. Mees de Wit came in at left-back.
AZ got plenty of the ball but the first chance fell to West Ham with Mathew Ryan needing to make a smart save to deny Saïd Benrahma. Myron van Brederode had a shooting chance afterward but his effort was too weak.
In the 41st minute, AZ got the lead with Tijjani Reijnders hammering a strike through the fists of Alphonse Areola from outside the box.
West Ham came out in the second half on top and in the 67th minute, Ryan fouled Jarrod Bowen and Benrahma scored from the penalty spot.
Fifteen minutes before the end, a corner reached Declan Rice at the back post and his cross was headed towards goal by Nayef Aguerd. Yuki Sugawara cleared it off the line but Mikhail Antonio was there to make it 2-1.
AZ managed to keep the score to 2-1 and they take that back to the AFAS Stadion next week.
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DAMN MATTY RYAN, Australia would have beat Argentina without him,now he’s killing my club team 😭