AZ win 4-0 at Ararat-Armenia as Patati scores twice
How AZ's four goals in Yerevan came in two short bursts, with Weslley Patati scoring in each half of a Europa League win on matchday 3.
By Harvey Watkins,
AZ won 4-0 away to Ararat-Armenia in the Europa League on Thursday, and the timing of the goals says as much as the margin. All four came in two clusters, neither lasting longer than six minutes, with a long stretch in between when the scoreboard did not move.
Weslley Patati scored twice, once in each half. Valdemar Byskov opened the scoring and Mexx Meerdink added the last. Ararat-Armenia did not score, so AZ left the Yerevan Football Academy Stadium with a clean sheet as well as the three points.
Two goals in six first-half minutes
The match was goalless until the 21st minute, when Byskov put AZ ahead. Six minutes later Patati made it 2-0. That brief passage shaped everything that followed. Before it, Ararat-Armenia had kept the game level for more than a fifth of its length. After it, they needed two goals just to draw.
A two-goal lead before the half-hour is a considerable cushion in European football, and AZ never gave any of it back. The score stayed at 2-0 through half-time and deep into the second period.
The long gap between the bursts
Between Patati's first goal and his second, 49 minutes passed without a goal. The scoreline alone does not explain that spell, and it would be wrong to read too much into it in either direction. What can be said is that Ararat-Armenia did not find a way back into the game during it. At 2-0, a single home goal would have changed the complexion of the final quarter. It never came.
Three minutes that settled it
Patati scored again in the 76th minute to make it 3-0, and Meerdink followed in the 79th. As in the first half, AZ struck twice in quick succession, this time inside three minutes. With a little over ten minutes remaining, a four-goal deficit left the home side with nothing to play for but the size of the defeat.
The pattern is the notable thing about the night. AZ did not score steadily. They scored in short, decisive spells, and each one effectively answered a question about the match. The first made them clear favourites to win it. The second removed any doubt.
What it adds up to
- Patati was the only player to score more than once, with a goal in each half.
- Three different scorers means AZ's goals did not depend on one player.
- A clean sheet away from home, with Ararat-Armenia held scoreless across the 90 minutes.
For AZ, a four-goal away win on matchday 3 is a strong return, and the margin could prove useful if goal difference comes into play later. For Ararat-Armenia, it was a heavy home defeat, with two goals conceded in each half and both pairs coming close together.
It is still one match, and a scoreline can flatter or exaggerate. The goals show when the game was decided, not everything that happened between them. But the outcome was clear enough. AZ took their chances in two short windows, and Ararat-Armenia had no reply to either.