AZ 1-2 Juventus: Kolo Muani stars in routine Europa League win

Randal Kolo Muani and Teun Koopmeiners were on target as Juventus defeated AZ 2-1 to continue their unbeaten start in the Europa League.

Kolo Muani assisted Koopmeiners' opener before scoring himself in the first half, and the Bianconeri held on for all three points despite Mexx Meerdink's late goal for the hosts.

The first chance of the encounter was spurned by Kolo Muani, who shot just past the post in the fourth minute, but he assisted Koopmeiners in the 19th minute as the former AZ midfielder guided a pass from the Frenchman into the bottom-left corner.

Kerim Alajbegovic then went close with a powerful effort which flew past the top-right corner, but Juve would go on to double their lead before the break as Kolo Muani played a one-two with Nick Woltemade before firing past Jari De Busser.

Juve struggled to create openings in the second half, while AZ went close to halving the deficit when substitute Kees Smit found some rare space in the opposition box, but the 20-year-old snatched at the chance and fired over.

AZ managed to tee up a nervy finish as Meerdink tapped in from Elijah Dijkstra's low centre in the 88th minute, and they thought they levelled in stoppage time, but Mees de Wit's volley was ruled out for an offside in the build-up against Meerdink.

Teun wins battle of the Koopmeiners

For the first time ever, brothers Teun and Peer Koopmeiners shared the pitch in an official game, and it was the Juve midfielder who won the bragging rights.

Teun Koopmeiners is the sixth Dutchman to ever find the net against AZ in European competition, and the first since Patrick Joosten for Apollon Limassol in October 2022.

And only Scott McTominay (four) has scored more goals than Teun Koopmeiners (three, level with Nico Paz, Alphadjo Cisse and Niccolò Pisilli) among midfielders of Italian teams in European competitions in 2026.

It was far from a perfect performance from Luciano Spalletti's side, with Juve accumulating just 0.57 expected goals (xG), 0.12 of which came in the second half, compared to AZ's 2.1.

Nevertheless, it was another win to relieve some more pressure on the head coach, who will be delighted to see Kolo Muani and Woltemade link up again. The German created a team-high three chances, while Kolo Muani created the second-most (two) as they both directly contributed to the second goal.