AZ Alkmaar caused a big upset on Thursday night as they defeated Napoli 1-0 to get their Europa League group campaign off to the perfect start.
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AZ headed to Napoli without a win this season and struggling with a covid 19 outbreak among the first-team squad. 13 players missed the trip to Naples with Arne Slot having to go with Dani de Wit up front and Yukinara Sugawara on the wing.
Napoli hammered Atalanta at the weekend but they struggled to create anything against AZ during the first half, and the Dutch side were relatively comfortable.
In the second half, AZ looked more threatening and in the 56th minute, De Wit poked in the opening goal after being set up by Jonas Svensson.
Napoli pushed forward looking for an equaliser, but Marco Bizot managed to keep a clean sheet and AZ held on for a great victory.
In the group’s other game, Real Sociedad defeated HNK Rijeka 1-0. AZ face The Croatian side next week.
Massive win for AZ & they needed it. Bizot back getting a clean sheet with some good saves. Hopefully this will give them a confidence boost bc need to find form from last season especially with other teams like PSV, Vitesse Twente etc so much stronger