Twente Enschede put themselves in pole position for the Champions League play-offs after racking up seven goals against relegated Volendam on the penultimate day of the Eredivisie season.

Twente survived an early scare when Damon Mirani put the visitors 2-1 up after just 21 minutes, but Naci Ünüvar smashed in an equaliser two minutes later and Twente were 5-2 up by half-time. The scorer of the fifth goal, Sem Steijn, went on to complete a hat-trick after the break.

AZ Alkmaar can still overtake Twente on the final day of the season after they won 3-0 at Go Ahead Eagles.

AZ will need to beat Utrecht next Sunday and hope Twente drop points at PEC Zwolle, but will have the consolation of a place in the Europa League group stages if they finish fourth.

Ajax seal fifth

Ajax will enter the Europa League at the second qualifying round stage after they beat Almere 3-0 with a first-half hat-trick from Steven Bergwijn to secure fifth spot, after nearest rivals NEC lost 3-2 at Feyenoord.

Both teams scored in a turbulent five-minute spell either side of half-time in Nijmegen, before Yankubah Minteh put Feyenoord ahead for the second time with his 10th goal of the season.

NEC, who had had Bram Nuytinck sent off for a scything tackle, looked to have salvaged a point when Sontje Hanssen shimmied and slid the ball under Justin Bijlow, only for Ayase Ueda to tap in a late winner.

Champions PSV Eindhoven can no longer match Ajax’s record points total for a season, but they avoided a second defeat of the season at Fortuna Sittard thanks to Jerdy Schouten’s second-half header. “The lads did their best, but the first half especially was bad,” said coach Peter Bosz.

Go Ahead Eagles secured the final play-off place for the UEFA Conference League despite their defeat by AZ, after Heerenveen lost 3-1 at home to bottom side Vitesse, for whom Marco van Ginkel bagged a double.

Relegation battle

A goal by Camiel Neghi was enough for Sparta to win at Utrecht in a match between two teams that had already sealed places in the Conference League play-offs, along with NEC.

Excelsior kept their hopes of staying in the Eredivisie alive with a 4-0 win over Heracles, while RKC stay ahead of them on goal difference after Richonell Margaret’s late equaliser earned a point against PEC Zwolle.

Heracles’s much worse goal difference means they still need a point against Fortuna Sittard next week to avoid being dragged into 16th place, which would take them into the end-of-season play-offs against six Keuken Kampioen Divisie teams.

However, that scenario also requires RKC and Excelsior to win their final matches, which are away to PSV and Feyenoord respectively.

Results

Sunday

Ajax 3-0 Almere City

Excelsior 4-0 Heracles Almelo

Fortuna Sittard 1-1 PSV Eindhoven

Go Ahead Eagles 0-3 AZ Alkmaar

Heerenveen 1-3 Vitesse Arnhem

NEC Nijmegen 2-3 Feyenoord

RKC Waalwijk 1-1 PEC Zwolle

Twente Enschede 7-2 Volendam

Utrecht 0-1 Sparta Rotterdam