AZ close to elimination after loss due to late goal at Aston Villa 

AZ lost in the group stage of the Conference League at Aston Villa, the number five in the Premier League. It finished 2-1 in Birmingham due to a late winner by Ollie Watkins.

AZ had no chance at the end of October in Alkmaar, losing 4-1 to Aston Villa, who are second behind Legia Warsaw in Group E, with both sides having 9 points after four games. AZ are on 3 points and will have to win their remaining matches against Zrinsjki Mostar (home) and Legia Warsaw (away) to have a chance of continuing in Europe.

Manager Pascal Jansen’s side travel to Feyenoord on Sunday.

After not even three minutes played, the ball was in the AZ net behind goalkeeper Maty Ryan, who could not stop Clement Lenglet’s header. However, after checking the footage, referee Luis Godinho saw an offside in the build-up to the goal.

With Ruben van Bommel and Ibrahim Sadiq in the starting lineup, AZ was warned but was pushed back by Aston Villa. Jansen’s side were lucky with efforts from Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey. Aston Villa, who were the better side, were fortunate not to go into halftime a goal down. AZ was in a strong phase, but they saw Vangelis Pavlidis’s goal disallowed for an offside against the assister Sven Mijnans. Pavlidis was also stopped by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez a short while later.

The Greek striker, joint topscorer with thirteen goals in the Eredivisie, found the net shortly after halftime. Riechedly Bazoer’s long ball from defence put him one-on-one with Martinez, and he stayed calm with the finish.

AZ could not enjoy the lead long as Diego Carlos headed the ball into the net after just over an hour played from a corner. The corner should not have been awarded, as Boubacar Kamara touched the ball last instead of Jordy Clasie.

It all went pear-shaped for AZ in the closing stages. Ollie Watkins put his head to a magnificent cross by Douglas Luiz and sent the English fans into celebrations. AZ now has to win their remaining two matches. It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to continue in Europe. If Aston Villa and Legia Warsaw draw in their game against each other on the 30th of November, then AZ’s European adventure is over.