ROTTERDAM. AZ and Sparta Rotterdam draw 1-1. Y. Sugawara scored the first goal (25′) for AZ. A. Verschueren made it even (74′). AZ was not able to win even if it was better in terms of ball possession (56%)

The match was played at the Sparta-Stadion Het Kasteel stadium in Rotterdam on Saturday and it started at 9:00 pm local time. The referee was Jochem Kamphuis who had the assistance of Roy de Nas and Franca Overtoom. The 4th official was Jannick van der Laan. The weather was moderate rain. The temperature was cold at 9.78 degrees Celsius or 49.6 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 61%.​

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

AZ had a strong ball possession 56% while Sparta Rotterdam was struggling with a 44% ball possession.

Attitude and shots

AZ was more pushing with 49 dangerous attacks and 15 shots of which 4 were on target. Notwithstanding, that was not enough AZ to win the contest​.

Sparta Rotterdam shot 14 times, 6 on target, 6 off target. On the other side, AZ shot 15 times, 4 on target, 3 off target.

Cards

Sparta Rotterdam didn’t receive any yellow card. Regarding the opposition, AZ received 2 yellow cards (Kristijan Belić and Jordy Clasie ).

Standings

After playing this match, Sparta Rotterdam has 30 points to sit in the 9th place. Regarding the opposition, AZ will has 43 points to sit in the 4th place.

Next matches

In the next match in the Eredivisie, Sparta Rotterdam will play away against FC Twente on the 10th of March with a 14-6 head to head record in favor of FC Twente (7 draws).

AZ will host Excelsior on the 10th of March with a 9-6 head to head stats in favor of AZ (8 draws).

Sparta Rotterdam – Formation

Sparta Rotterdam adopted the 4-2-3-1 line-up (4-2-3-1).

The manager Jeroen Rijsdijk decided to play with the following team: N. Olij (7.3), Saïd Bakari (6.7), Rick Meissen (7.1), Mike Eerdhuijzen (7.5), Djevencio van der Kust (7.0), Jonathan de Guzmán (7.5), Joshua Kitolano (7.0), Shunsuke Mito (6.7), Arno Verschueren (7.5), Koki Saito (7.1) and Tobias Lauritsen (7.7).

The home team had on the bench: Django Warmerdam, Pelle Clement (6.7), Sergi Rosanas, Tijs Velthuis, Metinho, Hamza el Dahri, Charles-Andreas Brym (7.3), Youri Schoonderwaldt, Rayvien Rosario and Kaylen Jermaine Danny Reitmaier.

Substitutions

Sparta Rotterdam made 3 changes: Shunsuke Mito for Charles-Andreas Brym (73′), Jonathan de Guzmán for Pelle Clement (73′) and Koki Saito for Tijs Velthuis (90′).

Player of the match: Tobias Lauritsen​

The most impressive player for Sparta Rotterdam was Tobias Lauritsen.

His rating is 7.7 with 23 passes (57% accurate) and 3 key passes. He won 11 duels out of 18.

AZ – Formation

Also AZ adopted the 4-2-3-1 line-up (4-2-3-1).

Maarten Martens played with: Bruno Martins Indi , Mathew Ryan  (8.1), Yukinari Sugawara (7.3), Wouter Goes  (6.7), Alexandre Penetra (7.1), David Møller Wolfe (7.0), Kristijan Belić (7.1), Jordy Clasie  (7.1), Sven Mijnans (7.3), Dani de Wit (7.0) and Ruben van Bommel (6.8), Vangelis Pavlidis (6.7).

The following players were sitting on the bench: Jayden Addai, Rome Jayden Owusu-Oduro, Tiago Dantas , Ibrahim Sadiq, Hobie Verhulst, Myron van Brederode  (6.7), Ernest Poku (7.0), Maxim Dekker, Lequincio Zeefuik (6.3), Mees de Wit  (6.7) and Finn Stam (6.6).

AZ could not rely on the presence of Finn Stam (injured) and Mees de Wit  (injured).

Substitutions

AZ made 5 changes: Kristijan Belić for Lequincio Zeefuik (84′), Ruben van Bommel for Myron van Brederode  (76′), Sven Mijnans for Ernest Poku (76′), Yukinari Sugawara for Finn Stam (56′) and David Møller Wolfe for Mees de Wit  (84′).

Player of the match: Mathew Ryan ​

Following our analysis, the most impressive player for AZ was the goalkeeper: Mathew Ryan . His rating is 8.06. He performed 5 saves.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Eredivisie.​

• Vitesse – FC Twente – 1-2
• Sparta Rotterdam – AZ – 1-1
• Go Ahead Eagles – RKC Waalwijk – 1-0