The schedule for the 2021-2022 Europa League play-off match between Celtic vs. AZ Alkmaar will be played at Celtic Park Stadium, Thursday (19/8/2021) at 01.45 WIB.
You will only be able to follow the match through the live score service, including on the official UEFA website. Ahead of the match, the coaches of both teams will certainly reflect on the results of the latest matches achieved by their teams. At the end of last week, AZ had to get a defeat in week 1 of the Dutch League.
Coming to the headquarters of RKC Waalwijk, Pascal Jansen's team fell 1-0. Even though in that match AZ became the favorite team to win 3 points. Statistically, AZ is also very dominant compared to RKC.
From the number of shots, AZ excel with a record 19 times compared to 7 shots for the host. Likewise with ball possession when AZ was 72 percent ahead of RKC's 28 percent. However, Michiel Kramer's goal towards the end of the first half became the winner for RKC.
Of course, improvements must be made to AZ ahead of the away match to Glasgow later. Fortunately, according to captain Bruno Martins Indi, he and his team-mates were not mentally crushed by the defeat and are ready to bounce back at Celtic.
“We actually had a lot of chances [against RKC] including our 2 goals being disallowed. It's certainly a bad start for us. However, we believe we can bounce back in the next game against Celtic,” said Martins Indi.
However, winning at Celtic is also not an easy matter. Ange Postecoglou's side are so far unbeaten when playing in front of their own fans. From 4 home games this season, Celtic won 3 wins and 1 draw.
Even Celtic won a big victory in Week 2 of the Scottish League last when they beat Dundee 6-0. In their last home game in the European arena last week they also managed to beat Jablonec 3-0. The result of the match that made Celtic managed to step into the play-offs against AZ.
Lastly, Celtic beat Hearts 3-2 in the Scottish League Cup. The victory took Celtic through to the quarter-finals and will face Raith Rovers on September 22. “The game against Hearts yesterday was very interesting to watch.
We can be disciplined in terms of playing our own style of play. The players can also create a lot of chances to score goals," said Postecoglou.
Celtic's good performance so far is also due to the individual role of their players. One name that AZ should be wary of is Kyogo Furuhashi, who has just signed from Vissel Kobe this summer. Interestingly, even though this is the first time he has played in Europe, Furuhashi doesn't have stage fright. His performance is quite surprising by having scored 5 goals from the 5 matches he has played with Celtic.
Estimated Line-up
Celtic: Joe Hart; Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh, Carl Starfelt, Greg Taylor; Callum McGregor, Tom Rogic, David Turnbull; Ryan Christie, Odsonne Edouard, Kyogo Furuhashi.
Coach: Ange Postecoglou.
AZ Alkmaar: Hobie Verhulst; Yukinari Sugawara, Timo Letschert, Bruno Martins Indi, Thijs Oosting; Dani de Wit, Jordy Clasie, Teun Koopmeiners; Zakaria Aboukhlal, Jesper Karlsson, Albert Gudmundsson. Coach: Pascal Jansen.
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