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Steffen Schmidt - August 29, 2023
Brann vs AZ Alkmaar
UEFA Conference League Qualification
Date: 31 August 2023, Thursday
Kick-off at 18:00 UK / 19:00 CET
Venue: Brann Stadion (Bergen).
Brann host AZ Alkmaar in a very interesting second leg of the UEFA Conference League playoffs on Thursday evening in Bergen.
The tie is wide open after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Brann stunned AZ Alkmaar with a brave performance seven days ago at AFAS Stadion.
The Norwegian outfit created several high-profile chances in a match that saw them fire seven shots on target in the 90 minutes of play in the Netherlands.
Brann now have a chance to reach the group stage of a European competition for the first time since 2007/08 when they played in the UEFA Cup Group D alongside Hamburg, Rennes, Dinamo Zagreb, and Basel.
Eirik Horneland’s men showed strength by eliminating Portuguese side Arouca 4-3 on aggregate in the previous round of the competition.
They have also picked up successive Eliteserien wins over HamKam and Aalesund in recent weeks to confirm a great spell of form.
AZ Alkmaar got off to a great start to the new Eredivisie campaign, winning both of their inaugural two outings and scoring as many as eight goals in the process.
The 1-1 stalemate to Brann terminated the team’s four-win streak across competitions this summer.
Head coach Pascal Jansen has a predator in the final third in the like of Evangelos Pavlidis who has three goals in two domestic league matches this term.
This match has goals in it. Both Brann and AZ Alkmaar possess immense firepower on display in the final third and we can hardly see either team keeping things quiet at the back on Thursday.
Over 2.5 goals FT & Both Teams To Score is our main betting option and you can back it at the 1.95 odds while we will alternatively take the 2.20 odds offered for the away win bet, trusting AZ’s individual quality to prevail on Thursday.
