- Kick-off
- Venue
- AFAS Stadion, Alkmaar
Our call: AZ Alkmaar 0–1 Juventus · Juventus win
Gleison Bremer keeping Mexx Meerdink quiet is enough for an injury-hit Juventus in Alkmaar.
We'll mark this call after full time.
Logged 3 Nov, 09:41 UTC, never edited.
In 30 seconds
- Juventus are 7th in the Europa League with seven points; AZ are 10th with six. The top eight go straight to the last 16.
- Mexx Meerdink has five of AZ's 13 goals in their last ten games; no other AZ player has more than two.
- Juventus are missing seven injured players, and they will still be too hard for AZ to score against.
The story
Luciano Spalletti brings Juventus to Alkmaar with a long injury list. Kenan Yildiz, Manuel Locatelli, Khéphren Thuram, Francisco Conceição, Nico González, Zeki Çelik and goalkeeper Kamil Grabara are all out, and Weston McKennie came off at half-time against Napoli on Sun 1 Nov with a tired adductor. Even so, that afternoon ended 2–0, with goals from Kerim Alajbegović after 70 minutes and Jeremie Boga three minutes from time.
Leeroy Echteld's AZ come in on a bad run. They lost 1–0 at Ajax on Sat 31 Oct to a ninth-minute header from Tolu Arokodare, after a 2–0 home defeat by Twente on Sun 25 Oct, and they are fifth in the Eredivisie. Before that, on Thu 22 Oct, they won 4–0 in Yerevan against Ararat-Armenia, their only clean sheet in the last five. Kees Smit, hurt with the Netherlands under-21s in October, was still not fit for Ajax.
After three Europa League games Juventus are seventh with seven points and AZ tenth with six. The top eight go straight to the last 16; ninth to 24th play off. A home win would lift AZ above Juventus.
This decides it: Mexx Meerdink against Gleison Bremer. Meerdink is the man AZ look for, and Ter Stegen kept out his late chance at Ajax; Bremer started at the heart of the Juventus defence that kept Napoli out. If Bremer holds Meerdink, AZ run short of other routes to goal.
Europa League 2026/27 explained: the format and the full league-phase table
Form
One win in their last four.
Two clean sheets in the last three.
The games, with scores
| AZ Alkmaar | 31 Oct | at AjaxED | L 0–1 |
| 25 Oct | v TwenteED | L 0–2 | |
| 22 Oct | at Ararat-ArmeniaUEL | W 4–0 | |
| 18 Oct | at CambuurED | D 2–2 | |
| 15 Oct | v Hapoel Beer ShevaUEL | W 2–1 | |
| Juventus | 1 Nov | v NapoliSA | W 2–0 |
| 28 Oct | at GenoaSA | L 0–2 | |
| 25 Oct | at LecceSA | W 2–0 | |
| 22 Oct | v RennesUEL | D 2–2 | |
| 18 Oct | v LazioSA | L 0–3 |
Latest first. Latest on the left. ED = Eredivisie, SA = Serie A, UEL = Europa League. OddsIntel match database, read 1 Nov 2026.
Team news
Checked Mon 2 Nov 22:00 UTC: Voetbalprimeur and Ajax Showtime (citing De Telegraaf), both 30 Oct, and NOS (9 Oct) for AZ; DAZN Italia (29 Oct), Football Italia (1 Nov), Noi Bianconeri 24 and Sportivo24 (both 2 Nov) for Juventus. Reported = not yet confirmed by the club for this match. Line-ups: confirmed about an hour before kick-off; they go under Updates. We don't publish guessed XIs.
One of Juventus's leading scorers is missing. Zeki Çelik, with two goals in their last ten, tore a hamstring against Rennes and is out for at least three weeks. Juventus's goalkeeper Kamil Grabara is out after knee ligament surgery; Guglielmo Vicario started against Napoli.
Juventus 4-3-3 · v Napoli, 1 Nov
- Vicario
- KaluluKoopmeinersBremer (key battle)Lucumí
- McKennieDouglas LuizCabal
- Kolo MuaniWoltemadeAlajbegović
- DaalMeerdink (key battle)Weslley Pinto
- KoopmeinersKwakmanByskov
- De WitGoesSchoutenDijkstra
- De Busser
AZ Alkmaar 4-3-3 · v Ajax, 31 Oct
Who to watch
The duel to watch: Mexx Meerdink against Gleison Bremer. Meerdink led AZ's line at Ajax; Bremer started in the Juventus back four against Napoli. If Meerdink gets the better of him, AZ can turn a poor fortnight around; if Bremer wins it, Nick Woltemade and Randal Kolo Muani only need one chance at the other end.
AZ Alkmaar
Mexx Meerdink
AZ's leading scorer in their last ten; his late chance at Ajax was saved.
- 5
- goals, AZ's last 10
Juventus
Nick Woltemade
Led the Juventus attack against Napoli on 1 Nov.
- 3
- goals, Juventus's last 10
Juventus
Randal Kolo Muani
Started up front with Woltemade against Napoli.
- 3
- goals, Juventus's last 10
Goals with a known scorer in each side's last ten games, all competitions. OddsIntel match database, read 1 Nov 2026.
Numbers that matter
Goals scored, last ten: AZ Alkmaar 13, Juventus 16 (higher is better)
AZ failed to score four times; Juventus three times.
Goals conceded, last ten · fewer is better: AZ Alkmaar 12, Juventus 10 (lower is better)
Close, with Juventus slightly tighter.
Clean sheets, last ten: AZ Alkmaar 2, Juventus 4 (higher is better)
Juventus shut out Napoli on 1 Nov; AZ's last clean sheet was the 4–0 in Yerevan.
Last ten games each, all competitions. OddsIntel match database, read 1 Nov 2026.
Our call, explained
Our call: Juventus win 1–0. AZ were shut out by Twente and Ajax in their last two league games, and Juventus have four clean sheets in their last ten. Without Yildiz up front and Locatelli and Thuram in midfield, Juventus will not create much either, so we expect few chances at both ends. One goal is enough if Bremer handles Meerdink, the player AZ lean on.
Where this could go wrong. Juventus lost at Genoa on Wed 28 Oct and were beaten 3–0 at home by Lazio on Sun 18 Oct, so this injury-hit side can be got at, and AZ showed in Yerevan that they can score four. The other way, Juventus put five past NEC Nijmegen, another Dutch side, in September, and if AZ have to chase the game the margin could be bigger.
Updates
Nothing has changed since we published. Next: News on McKennie and Smit, Echteld's and Spalletti's press conferences on Wed 4 Nov, UEFA's choice of referee, and both confirmed team sheets about an hour before kick-off.
Data note: results, scorers, the table and line-ups from our database, read 1 Nov 22:40 UTC, so the counts include AZ's game on Sat 31 Oct and Juventus's on Sun 1 Nov. Juventus's last ten include a friendly, 0–1 against Cremonese on 2 Oct. Over those ten games 2 Juventus goals have no named scorer in our lists, so each Juventus player's tally is a minimum. Team news and match details from UEFA.com, Ziggo Sport, NOS, Voetbalprimeur, Ajax Showtime, DAZN Italia, Football Italia, Noi Bianconeri 24, Sportivo24 and Juventus News 24.
Our call was timestamped by an independent service before kick-off, Tue 3 Nov, 09:50 UTC.
How the timestamp works
Timestamped before kick-off by an independent service (DigiCert, RFC 3161), Tue 3 Nov, 09:50 UTC. The call file is the exact version that was timestamped. The file with our call and its timestamp token: call file · timestamp. Its fingerprint (sha256):
f4bd93cfbf02c008f48f2ecde7692e1fcac0116055af22c2da0938781c4dcb5b
Our calls so far
- calls right
- 30/51
- home win every time
- 23/51