AZ Alkmaar were made to rue several missed chances as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Augsburg at the AFAS Stadion.
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Three weeks ago AZ secured one of their most famous wins in recent years when they saw off Athletic Bilbao 2-1, but John van den Brom’s side failed to build on that victory against Augsburg, who secured their first ever European win in Alkmaar.
AZ dominated the opening stages and went close to scoring on three occasions, with Markus Henriksen forcing goalkeeper Marwin Hitz into a good save with a shot from range, before Dagbey dos Santos and Vincent Janssen wasted golden chances.
Just before the break Augsburg punished the home side as Piotr Trochowski fired a free kick past Coutinho, although AZ were angered by the awarding of the free kick when the referee seemed to wave play on to the German side.
After the break AZ bombed forward looking for the equaliser, but both Janssen and Ben Rienstra couldn’t find it, and in injury time Hitz pulled off an excellent stop to once again deny Henriksen.
AZ not sit bottom of the group, three points behind both Partizan Belgrade and Athletic Bilbao.
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