An interesting encounter here with two teams involved in title races domestically. AZ are Ajax’s closest challengers in the Eredivisie as they are six-points behind the champions while LASK earned a brilliant victory away at Salzburg in their most recent outing to overtake their opponents and go to of the Tipico Bundesliga. Now the runners-up from Group L will host the Group D winners in the first leg in Holland.
The hosts come into this game following back-to-back defeats having previously won three in succession. They have been hard to beat at home this season with eight wins from 11 games in the Eredivisie and they were unbeaten in the group stage when hosting even handing out a 6-0 thrashing to FC Astana upon their visit. They were beaten last week at home by NAC Breda in the Dutch Cup but they have won four of their last six home games since December.
LASK have already been to Holland to face PSV in the group stages of this competition and they earned a point with a 1-1 draw. A cracking win for the Austrian side away at Salzburg will be a real confidence booster heading into this game as it gives them real momentum in the title race and with AZ enjoying a fine season it’s fair to say LASK are experiencing something similar. They topped a group containing PSV, Sporting Lisbon and Rosenberg. They have won each of their last five away matches and scored exactly three goals in each of their last two.
This is a really intriguing tie between two sides enjoying great seasons both domestically and in Europe. Both teams have showed real quality in attack especially in the group phase and I expect those exploits to continue with both teams scoring here.