Europa Conference League early roundup: Djugarden wins Scandi duel, Slavia and AZ on song

AZ Alkmaar - Vaduz 4-1

Three late goals saved AZ Alkmaar’s blushes in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stages as the Kaaskoppen beat 10-man Vaduz 4-1 at AFAS Stadion, which is big enough to seat over half of Liechtenstein’s entire population.

Vaduz showed no fear in the early stages despite their status as massive underdogs against the highest-seeded side in the UECL.

AZ’s quality was still showing and Yusuf Barası will have thought he was about to mark his first senior start with a goal when he rounded Benjamin Büchel, but Cedric Gasser raced back to clear his effort off the line.

Barasi didn’t have to wait long, though, as the goalkeeper could only watch the 19-year-old’s deflected effort from outside the box sail past him.

The Residenzler shocked their hosts as they struck back just two minutes later. Tunahan Cicek teed up Anthony Goelzer, who struck a fantastic effort across Hobie Verhulst with Vaduz’s first effort on target in the entire group stage.

While the visitors were visibly growing in confidence, Myron van Brederode opened up his body to hit a shot that eventually curled wide before slipping through Tijjani Reijnders, whose attempt was impressively saved by Büchel.

AZ emerged from half-time showing plenty of intent, but Vaduz stood strong and even had an opportunity of their own, although Franklin Sasere couldn’t take advantage with an underwhelming header.

The visitors’ challenge grew even more difficult when Büchel was shown a red card after the hour mark having taken out Jens Odgaard after the Dane touched the ball away from him.

Gion Chande made an immediate save from Reijnders’ ensuing free kick before Barası headed over the rebound and Pascal Jansen made a triple change in search of a winner.

The hosts finally went ahead in the 81st minute, when Sam Beukema was afforded too much space in the box and headed Milos Kerkez’s cross home, as AZ extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 11 matches.

Riechedly Bazoer’s shocking back pass almost gifted Vaduz a swift equaliser, but Nicolas Hasler slipped as the Residenzler’s four-match unbeaten run came to an end. Yukinari Sugawara and Mees de Wit added late goals to add gloss to what had become a flattering scoreline for the hosts.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Milos Kerkez (AZ Alkmaar)

See all the match stats on Flashscore.

In Other Fixtures:

The best of the rest came from Prague and Stockholm. In a tasty Scandinavian derby, Djugarden beat their Norwegian opponents Molde 3-2 thanks to a 91st minute winner from Joel Asoro.

In the Czech capital, Slavia Prague were pushed all the way by FC Ballkani in another five-goal game, ending 3-2 to the hosts with all the goals coming in the first half. Slavia found themselves chasing the game twice against theis Kosovan opponents, going behind 1-0 and 2-1 before Lukas Masopust scored the eventual winner four before the break after Peter Olayinka has equalised from close range. 

The result saw the Czech side go top of Group G with four points. Joining them on the same tally is Sivasspor, who edged out CFR Cluj in Romania thanks to a Max Gradel penalty in the 28th minute - the only goal of the game.

Dnipro-1 got their first win of their european campaign with a 3-1 win over Apollon in Cyprus. The Ukranian side scored three first half goals, two from forward Artem Dovbyk, to all but secure the points at the break. The hosts did get a consolatory goal, but that will be of little use after a tough night.

In Group F, Gent and the aforementioned Djugarden seem to be the teams to beat with the former seeing off a shambolic Shamrock Rovers 3-0 in Belgium. Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe netted a brace, a goal in each half after Hugo Cuypers had opened the scoring. Both Gent and Djugarden sit on four points atop the group.

Pyunik Yerevan and Basel were the big winners in Group H, with the Armenian side seeing off Slovan Bratislava by a two-goal margin. For Basel, they edged out Lithuanian side Zalgiris by the odd goal, keeping a clean sheet in the process.