Anderlecht vs AZ Alkmaar prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2023-04-12 19:00.
The UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) round of 16 saw Anderlecht pull off a shock win at 2021 Europa League (UEL) winners Villarreal to scrape through 2-1 on aggregate. Now they are back in a continental final-eight after a six-year wait, though, not since the 1989/90 Cup Winners’ Cup have they managed to secure a European semi-final appearance.
A 2-0 victory in the home leg of those quarter-finals helped Anderlecht progress easily (W 3-1 agg. vs FK Admira). On that note, Sunday’s First Division match against Westerlo (D 0-0) gave Brian Riemer’s men a fifth straight clean sheet overall, though, a return of just one home shutout in this season’s UECL proper (W2, D2, L1) suggests they’ll do well to get a sixth.
Most recently continental semi-finalists in the UEFA Cup of 2004/05, visitors AZ Alkmaar will be feeling confident after the previous round’s brace of 2-1 comebacks over Lazio, despite winning none of their Eredivisie games since the second leg (D1, L2). They now reacquaint themselves with Anderlecht 11 years after a UEL tie that saw them prevail via two 1-0 wins.
AZ’s lack of shutouts across their last seven European games (W6, L1) is worrisome, but as one of the four quarter-finalists to have played at least ten UECL away matches including qualifiers (W6, D2, L3), the Cheeseheads’ travelling pedigree could be an asset. Five of those wins came by a single-goal margin too, showing their tenacity on foreign shores.
Players to watch: Islam Slimani scored the second-leg goal that sealed Anderlecht’s progress to this stage, with that strike being the second of three match-winning openers across his last four goals. But the potent Vangelis Pavlidis netted in both round of 16 legs, ensuring that his previous three goalscoring European matches have all ended 2-1 in AZ’s favour.
Hot streak: Each of AZ’s last three UECL games have produced a 1-1 half-time scoreline.