AZ Alkmaar are Drita’s strongest opponents in the Conference League. In the league stage draw, the Dutch team was in the first pot, while Drita was in the fourth, out of six in total. AZ was even second in the first pot, only behind Fiorentina.ës.
Drita and AZ Alkmaar meet on Thursday at 18:45 at the “Fadil Vokrri” stadium in Prishtina. The match belongs to the fifth, respectively penultimate, round of the league stage in the “Conference League”.
After four rounds, the Kosovo champion is significantly better than the famous Dutch team in the table. Drita is still undefeated. It has two wins and two draws and with eight points is currently in eighth place. This position ultimately sends directly to the eighth finals in the Conference League.
AZ Alkmaar is only in 20th place after four rounds. It has two wins and two losses, respectively six points. The 20th position sends it to the knockout stage playoffs.
Although the big favorite, AZ Alkmaar started the league stage as the worst. They lost 4:0 away to AEK Larnaca in Cyprus. Then they won 1:0 at home against Slovan Bratislava. In the round of The Dutch team was away again in the third round. And lost 3:1 in England to Crystal Palace. They responded in the fourth round in the home match, winning 2:0 against Shelbourne of Ireland.
And now the Dutch have another away match.
Drita e Gjilani started with a 1:1 draw away to KuPS in Finland. Then they drew 1:1 with Omonia of Cyprus at “Fadil Vokrri”. In the third round they won 1:0 in Ireland against Shelbourne, while in the fourth round they won the “Albanian derby” in Pristina against Shkëndija of Tetovo, with a score of 1:0.
In the sixth and final round, Drita plays in Spain against Rayo Vallecano, on December 18. Rayo Vallecano was in the second pot in the draw.
In the Dutch top flight, AZ Alkmaar is in fifth place with 25 points. 15 rounds have been played, while this team is 15 points behind PSV, which leads the table.
This team also finished fifth in the Eredivisie last season.
Unlike the Champions League and Europa League, which have eight rounds, the Conference League has six rounds in the league stage. The top eight teams in the table advance directly to the round of 16. Teams ranked ninth to 24th advance to the knockout stage play-offs. Teams ranked 25th to 36th are eliminated.
For Drita, appearing in the league stage is a great success. But now the team from Gjilan aims to go as far as possible. With success against AZ Alkmaar, a place in the round of 16 seems very possible.
