AZ Alkmaar vs Galatasaray Prediction: Lucky for the away team
The Europa League match between AZ Alkmaar and Galatasaray will take place at 00:45 on February 14th. Nghe An Newspaper analyzes the teams' form, provides football commentary, and predicts the score.
Latest team news for AZ Alkmaar vs Galatasaray
AZ Alkmaar's Ruben van Bommel and Ibrahim Sadiq are still sidelined due to injury. Kristijan Belic will also miss Thursday's match after accumulating too many yellow cards (receiving his third yellow card in the eighth matchday).
With Belic suspended, Jordy Clasie or Kees Smit (who scored against Galatasaray earlier in the season) could partner Peer Koopmeiners in midfield. Meanwhile, Sven Mijnans – who recently scored a brace against Ferencvaros – is expected to continue in the "number 10" role.
Troy Parrott is AZ Alkmaar's top scorer this season with 16 goals in all competitions, including two goals in their last two Europa League matches. He is likely to continue playing as the central striker. Parrott will be supported by wingers Jayden Addai and Mayckel Lahdo.
On Galatasaray's side, the list of absentees includes Mauro Icardi, Yunus Akgun, and Ismail Jakobs (due to injury). Meanwhile, Victor Osimhen, Davinson Sanchez, and Lucas Torreira will be unavailable for the first leg due to accumulating too many yellow cards.
New signings Morata and Carlos Cuesta have been added to the Europa League squad. Both are ready to play in the upcoming match. However, several other new signings such as Ahmed Kutucu, Mario Lemina, and Przemyslaw Frankowski are not included in the registration list.
Midfielder Berkan Kutlu may continue to play out of position, either as a left-back or left wing-back. Additionally, Kerem Demirbay is likely to be trusted by the coach and partner Gabriel Sara in central midfield.
Latest predicted lineups for AZ Alkmaar vs Galatasaray
AZ Alkmaar:
Owusu-Oduro; Kasius, Goes, Penetra, Wolfe; Clasie, Koopmeiners; Addai, Mijnans, Lahdo; Parrott
Galatasaray:
Muslera; Ayhan, Cuesta, Bardakci, Kutlu; Sara, Demirbay; Sallai, Mertens, Yilmaz; Morata
Latest football match prediction: AZ Alkmaar vs Galatasaray
AZ Alkmaar have reached the knockout stage of European competition after a five-year wait. The Dutch team is also aiming to overcome the Europa League play-off round (something they haven't done since the 2013/14 season). After the League Phase, AZ have accumulated enough points to avoid elimination.
Despite losing 3-4 to Ferencvaros in mid-February, AZ Alkmaar finished the group stage with 11 points from 8 matches. This record (3 wins, 2 draws, and 3 losses) was just enough to secure them a place in the play-offs (only one point ahead of the team in second place).
Subsequently, "the cheese makers" won three consecutive matches in the domestic league. These included a 3-1 victory against Quick Boys in the KNVB Beker quarter-finals and two 2-0 wins against Willem II and PEC Zwolle in the Eredivisie.
Under the guidance of Maarten Martens, AZ has climbed to 4th place in the Eredivisie standings, opening up opportunities to qualify for the Champions League. Now, they will face Galatasaray – an opponent they drew 1-1 with in the 5th round (League Phase) last November.
AZ enter Thursday's match with an impressive home record. They have lost only 2 of their last 35 games in all competitions (23 wins, 10 draws). However, in European cup knockout rounds, they have lost 3 of their last 7 home games (2 wins, 2 draws).
Galatasaray (after being eliminated by Slavia Prague in the Europa League play-off round last season) have reached the same stage this season, with 13 points from 8 League Phase matches (3 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss).
The Turkish giants have missed their chance to advance directly to the round of 16. Their 1-2 defeat against Ajax two weeks ago has left Galatasaray ranked 14th out of 36 teams in League Phase (just one point behind the top eight).
Subsequently, coach Okan Buruk's team played three domestic matches: a 1-0 victory against Gaziantep in the Super Lig and a 4-1 win against Boluspor in the Coppa Italia. However, their match against Adana Demirspor last weekend was strangely postponed when the entire Adana team left the field in protest against the penalty awarded to Galatasaray.
Putting aside recent setbacks, Galatasaray will strive to gain an advantage against AZ next Thursday. The Turkish side is the highest-scoring team in the League Phase (19 goals, two more than league leaders Lazio). However, Galatasaray has never won in their last six away matches in the Netherlands, including two matches this season.
Latest AZ Alkmaar vs Galatasaray score prediction
Based on the above football analysis, we and leading football websites worldwide have provided our predictions for the match.AZ Alkmaar vs Galatasarayas follows:
- Sportsmole:AZ Alkmaar 2-2 Galatasaray
- WhoScore:AZ Alkmaar 1-1 Galatasaray
- Our newspaper predicts:AZ Alkmaar 2-2 Galatasaray
When and where can I watch AZ Alkmaar vs Galatasaray live?
To watch the AZ Alkmaar vs Galatasaray match live in the Europa League, taking place at 00:45 on February 14th, viewers can tune in to the following channels:K+ Sport,K+PMor online sports channels. We hope you enjoy watching football.
