AZ of Alkmaar lost the first leg of their Conference League semi-final against English side West Ham 2-1 on Thursday night. 

But the Alkmaar side is confident that it will still qualify for the final with a home-leg win in a week’s time.

Tijjani Reijnders, who scored the AZ goal which put them into the lead, told UEFA.com: ‘We knew that there were spaces for us to attack. In the first half we did a really good job getting in front and in the second half we lost possession too many times and were under pressure.

‘We go into [the return leg] with a lot of confidence, we were 2-0 down against Anderlecht and we won, so everything is possible.’ 

In the other semi-final, Swiss side Basel booked a surprise 1-2 win against Fiorentina of Italy.

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This is not over yet. Let’s turn this around next week together ❤️#AZ #whuaz #UECL pic.twitter.com/kautQSm1tG

— AZ (@AZAlkmaar) May 11, 2023

‘It’s a measure of how well AZ played that they’ll almost certainly be bitterly disappointed to be going back to the Netherlands not having at least drawn,’ the Uefa website said. ‘Still, plenty cause for optimism for next week’s return leg.’