AZ fails to take second place from Ajax: defeat at Twente
NOS Football–
Watch the summary of FC Twente – AZ
AZ had an excellent opportunity to take over second place in the Eredivisie from Ajax, but visiting FC Twente, coach Pascal Jansen’s team went down.
In Enschede, it became 2-1 thanks in part to two goals by Manfred Ugalde. Jesper Karlsson signed for the only Alkmaar goal.
A win would have secured the second spot, but now Ajax maintains a two-point lead over the Alkmaarers. PSV, which drew 1-1 against Vitesse, is now also above AZ on goal difference.
Ugalde goes close
FC Twente led 2-0 after only eleven minutes. The 1.71-meter tall Ugalde headed two goals. First from a Joshua Brenet cross and four minutes later Vaclav Cerný was the finisher. AZ was groggy and was lucky that Ugalde did not take advantage of his next two chances.
Clasie no longer believes in title for AZ, Zerrouki sets sights on spot four for Twente
On the other side, Tijani Reijnders pounced on Twente goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall and Karlsson shot wide. FC Twente also started the second half strongly and AZ goalie Mathew Ryan kept Anass Salah-Eddine and Ricky van Wolfswinkel from making it 3-0.
Out of nowhere (and after a phenomenal pass from Jordy Clasie), Karlsson scored. After that the game was up and down, but no more goals were scored. Thanks to the win, Twente regained the fifth spot in the league table from Sparta.
