Manchester United u19s took on AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Youth League on Tuesday.
The Dutch side won the competition just two seasons ago so it was sure to be a tough fixture for Adam Lawrence’s side.
The open exchanges were even with neither side threatening the goal until a mistake from Tristan Kuijsten. The AZ keeper allowed Jeremiah Esajas’ back pass to slip under his foot and into the net to give United the early lead.
The home side then looked to level it up with the tricky Julian Oerip causing problems in the final third. Habeeb Ogunneye provided an excellent clearance shortly before being forced off due to injury.
Approaching the end of the first half, United failed to clear AZ’s corner allowing Yoel van den Ban to provide the finish from close range.
Oerip then forced a top save from William Murdock just before the whistle as United breathed a sigh of relief to go into the break level.
The tight contest continued into the second half with Ashton Missin forcing a scrambling block from the AZ defender.
It was chaos in the AZ area as United looked to force their way in, but Jayce Fitzgerald’s effort was blocked wide in the end after some nice skill to open the space to shoot.
In the 67th minute, Murdock produced another strong save but AZ regained possession quickly to set up Kasper Boogard, who struck past Murdock to give AZ the lead.
United looked to respond with some dangerous crosses into the box, the first of which was just out of reach for Ethan Wheatley and then Gabriele Biancheri couldn’t keep his effort on target.
The Red Devils controlled the final stages but late chances from Fitzgerald and Jack Fletcher couldn’t find the net to give United the equaliser they were chasing.
United now turn to the return leg where they will host AZ Alkmaar at Old Trafford with a big crowd expected to be behind them to turnover the 2-1 deficit.
United: Murdock, Ogunneye (Kamason 31), Jackson, Armer (Munro 46), Amass, Devaney, Fitzgerald, J. Fletcher, Missin (Mantato 60), Wheatley (Biancheri 72), Williams (Ibragimov 72)
Unused subs: Byrne-Hughes, Obi-Martin, Baumann, Scanlon
Colm Murphy
A football obsessed Canadian who moved to England to enjoy the beautiful game. Colm has been keen follower of Manchester United’s famed academy since seeing a fresh faced Adnan Januzaj for the club’s u18s and has been writing about football with a focus on youth development for over 10 years.
