Alkmaar seek to make presence felt

AZ Alkmaar, who were UEFA Cup runners-up in 1980/81 to Ipswich Town FC, are in their first season of UEFA club competitions since 1982/83.

Strong showing
Ahead of their opening group game against AJ Auxerre the Dutch club have only lost five of 28 previous games in the competitions and have made a fine return this season. In the first round AZ beat FC PAOK Thessaloniki of Greece in both legs, winning 3-2 in Greece and then securing their place in the group stages with a 2-1 return leg success at Alkmaar. In both matches AZ recovered from a goal down.

Sochaux denied
Although they lost the UEFA Cup final to Ipswich in 1981, during that campaign AZ overcame FC Sochaux-Montbéliard at the semi-final stage, the only time they have met French opposition to date in European competitions. The two sides shared a 1-1 draw in Sochaux, with Peter Arntz (14 minutes) putting AZ 1-0 ahead before Philippe Anziani (21) equalised. The return leg proved to be a thriller after Bernard Genghini (9) gave Sochaux an early lead. But AZ hit back through Johnny Metgod (20), Jos Jonker (38) and Jan Peters (65) before Thierry Meyer replied for Sochaux with 20 minutes left, but the Dutch side held on for a 4-3 aggregate win. AZ then lost the first leg of the final 3-0 in Ipswich but then put together a stirring comeback in Alkmaar, winning the second leg 4-2, but losing 5-4 on aggregate.

Dutch experience
Auxerre have more experience and more recent engagements against teams from the Netherlands. In the UEFA Cup second round they eliminated FC Utrecht from the competition with a 4-0 aggregate win, before being eliminated themselves by PSV Eindhoven who won their fourth round tie 4-1 on aggregate. The previous year, in 2002/03, Auxerre were also drawn with PSV in the first group stage of the UEFA Champions League with a 0-0 scoreline at Auxerre followed by a 3-0 win for PSV at Eindhoven.

Early successes
Auxerre have also earlier met Dutch opposition in the form of AFC Ajax in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup quarter-final (Auxerre won 4-3 on aggregate) and in the first group stage of the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League (one win each). Auxerre then beat FC Twente in both legs of the 1997/98 UEFA Cup and 3-0 on aggregate, and have a narrow overall advantage over Dutch clubs with five wins, three draws and four defeats in 12 games.