Alkmaar aim to usurp Middlesbrough

AZ Alkmaar will be looking to overhaul Middlesbrough FC at the UEFA Cup Group D summit when they welcome the Premiership side to the Alkmaarderhout on Matchday 3.

• AZ started their group campaign with an impressive 2-1 win against FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine thanks to goals from Shota Arveladze and Tarik Sektioui, but sat out the second round of fixtures as Middlesbrough opened up a three-point lead at the top of the section with a 3-0 victory against the same team. Mark Viduka (2) and Yakubu Ayegbeni were both on target at the Riverside but it was another forward, Dutchman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink that earned the points at Grasshopper-Club in the side's first outing with the only goal of the game.

• AZ and Middlesbrough have never before met in UEFA competition, although the Dutch side have a poor record against English opposition. The team from the Netherlands twice had European campaigns ended by Ipswich Town FC and once by Liverpool FC between 1978 and 1981, although they remain unbeaten at home having played out two draws and a win at the Alkmaarderhout.

• Their first encounter came in 1978, when AZ met Ipswich in the first round of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The first leg ended goalless in the Netherlands, but Paul Mariner and John Wark were both on target in the reverse fixture as the English side secured a comfortable victory. The pair were again on the scoresheet when the sides met again in the final of the UEFA Cup two years later, along with Dutchman Frans Thijssen, as Ipswich opened up a 3-0 first-leg lead at Portman Road.

• AZ almost managed a remarkable turnaround in the Netherlands, however, despite falling further behind to another Thijssen goal after three minutes. Kurt Welzl, Johnny Metgod, Kees Tol and Jos Jonker were all on target, with Wark scoring Ipswich's sole riposte as AZ made it 5-4 on aggregate with 17 minutes left. However they could not complete a remarkable comeback.

• There was also only one goal in it the following season when the Alkmaar outfit met holders Liverpool in the second round of the 1981/82 European Champion Clubs' Cup, but the Dutch team were again denied. AZ battled from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw in the home leg thanks to Tol and Kees Kist, and the tie looked on course for extra time in the second leg with the score standing 2-2 at Anfield when Alan Hansen snatched a late winner.

• Middlesbrough have never before met Dutch opposition in UEFA competition.