After the defeat to Augsburg two weeks ago, AZ Alkmaar will hope to get their Europa league campaign back on track when they travel to Germany.
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AZ dominated the reverse fixture two weeks ago but were guilty of squandering their chances and were hit with a sucker-punch from the Bundesliga strugglers.
John van den Brom’s side now sit three points behind both Athletic Bilbao and Partizan Belgrade, but can put themselves back into contention for the knockout stage with a win in Germany. However AZ didn’t have the desired warm up for the game at the weekend when they were defeated 4-2 at home to NEC Nijmegen; A result which leaves them languishing 11th in the Eredivisie.
Midfielder Ben Rienstra stated in the pre-game press conference that AZ’s players are determined to revenge the weekend’s result, and use PSV’s victory on Tuesday as incentive.
He said, “We want revenge for the defeat against NEC. That feeling predominates in the squad. ”
“The PSV game against Wolfsburg is an added incentive for us. The way they won against the number two of the Bundesliga was very good. ”
Mounir El Hamdaoui is ineligible for the tie, but Alireza Jahanbakhsh is available again after injury.
Possible AZ line-up: Coutinho, Johannson, Haps, Van der Linden, Gouweleeuw, Rienstra, Henriksen, Dos Santos, Van Overeem, Jahanbakhsh, Janssen
Augsburg still remain bottom of the Bundesliga after losing 5-1 at Dortmund and drawing 3-3 with Mainz since the win in Alkmaar two weeks ago. However they did earn a confidence boosting 3-0 win over Freiburg in the German Cup.
Possible Augsburg line-up: Hitz, Verhaegh, Feulner, Klavan, Jeung-Ho, Baier, Ja-Cheol, Caiuby, Bobadilla, Dong-Won, Matavz
AZ still sit as Netherlands best hope of qualifying for the Europa League knockout stages but the defeat in Alkmaar two weeks ago was a damaging blow. Van den Brom’s side will be determined to revenge that loss, in a tie they dominated, and with neither side defending particularly well their should be goals. The return of Jahanbakhsh on the wing is a big boost and he could fire AZ to victory.
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