NOS Football•
AZ did good business in the competition phase of the Conference League when it visited FK Drita. The Alkmaarders, number 20 in the rankings after four of the six rounds, won 3-0 in Kosovo and thus reached nine points.
For Drita, which was in eighth place with eight points, it was the first defeat in the group stage after two wins and two draws.
The first threat came from the home team, but after goalkeeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro and Per Koopmeiners worked together to avert that danger, it was mainly AZ that did the talking. Starting with a slider from Troy Parrott on the counterattack.
While he was an easy prey for Faton Maloku, the closing post still had to fish in the 17th minute. A through ball from Kees Smit was passed wide by Isak Jensen to Sven Mijnans, who scored against the grain: 0-1.
Alkmaar’s extensive possession of the ball only led to opportunities in the last ten minutes before half-time. Maloku parried shots from Mijnans and Smit and saw Parrott’s effort go just wide. Weslley Patati failed to provide the deserved completion to a beautiful AZ attack full of short passes.
Same protagonists
Klubi Futbollistik Drita almost surprised the later finalist Feyenoord in the 2021/2020 season in the preliminary round of the first edition of the Conference League, but could not cause AZ to get into trouble for a moment. The guests had complete control of the match and patiently searched for the decisive 0-2.
That came after just under an hour in the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in the Kosovar capital Pristina, where Drita had moved because its own Gjilan City Stadium is being renovated. The main players were largely the same: Jensen scored on a pass from Smit, who himself missed the chance to make it 0-3 moments later.
The fact that that score still appeared on the scoreboard was thanks to substitute Ibrahim Sadiq, who nodded a cross from Mees de Wit behind Maloku shortly before the end.
