AZ suffered a painful defeat on Thursday in the second qualifying round of the Conference League. The Alkmaar team lost the first leg against Finnish league leaders Ilves Tampere with 4-3.
AZ fell behind after just eight minutes with a goal from Roope Riski. The striker stormed alone towards Jeroen Zoet after a long pass from the back and passed the goalkeeper with a low shot into the right corner.
Troy Parrott equalized eight minutes later after a combination with Kees Smit. On the stroke of half-time, AZ fell behind again with a goal from Riski. This time, the attacker headed in from a cross from the right.
After an hour, the recently substituted Sven Mijnans brought AZ back to level terms with a beautiful shot into the left corner. But moments later, Adeleke Akinyemi and Marius Söderbäck made it 4-2 with shots into the left and right corners respectively.
In added time, substitute Mexx Meerdink pulled one back for AZ with a shot from the turn. The 22-year-old forward thus gave himself a birthday present.
The return leg between AZ and Ilves Tampere will be played next Thursday in Alkmaar. The winner will meet FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein or Dungannon Swifts from Northern Ireland in the third qualifying round.