Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League journey continues as they prepare to face a familiar opponent in the last 16—AZ Alkmaar. With memories of their earlier meeting this season still fresh, Spurs will be hoping to secure a win once again.

Just last week, on Friday, February 21, Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League last-16 opponent was revealed as AZ Alkmaar. The draw also outlined Tottenham’s potential path all the way to the Europa League final.

With Ange Postecoglou’s men in the bottom half of the Premier League table and already out of both domestic cup competitions, lifting the Europa League trophy remains their only route back to the Champions League.

Tottenham’s previous encounter with AZ Alkmaar

However, before Tottenham Hotspur can dream about the final, they must first get past AZ Alkmaar in the Round of 16.

The two sides are no strangers to each other, having already met in the league phase of the competition. Their first encounter ended in a narrow 1-0 victory for Tottenham, with a penalty from Richarlison proving to be the difference.

Before the first clash, Ange Postecoglou made significant changes to his starting line-up. The Tottenham boss had Fraser Forster in goal, a centre-back partnership of Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie at right-back, and Archie Gray at left-back.

In midfield, Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison, and Lucas Bergvall started, while Richarlison, Mikey Moore, and Timo Werner formed the attacking trio.

Despite fielding a rotated squad, Spurs still had a strong bench, with Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Dominic Solanke, and Dejan Kulusevski among the substitutes.

Underlying stats from the match showed that, even with several changes, the Lilywhites were in control. The fixture on 24 October 2024 remains the only time these two teams have faced each other in history.

AZ Alkmaar’s impressive form makes them a dangerous opponent

While Tottenham will be confident heading into this clash, bolstered by the return of key players from injury, AZ Alkmaar should not be underestimated.

At the time of writing, the Dutch side are unbeaten in their last five matches, winning four, keeping two clean sheets, and scoring 12 goals.

Perhaps their most impressive result came in the Europa League play-off round, where they dismantled Galatasaray 4-1 in the first leg at home.

Notably, this is the same Galatasaray side that defeated Spurs 3-2 on matchday four of the league phase, a result that serves as a reminder of AZ Alkmaar’s quality.

The clash between these two sides is expected to take place on March 6, 2025, eight days after Spurs’ clash against Manchester City and four days after AZ Alkmaar’s clash against SC Heerenveen.

Kevin Danso opens up on his ‘difficult’ start to life at Tottenham, but he loves N17

One of Tottenham’s newest additions has admitted that he is loving life at Spurs so far but confessed that he has had to face some difficult challenges in his first month at the North London side.

After arriving from Lens during the dying stages of the January window, Kevin Danso has hit the ground running at Spurs

The Austrian has demonstrated the value of experience at the back, with his arrival coinciding with a significant defensive improvement for Ange Postecoglou‘s side, who have conceded just twice in their last three Premier League outings against Man Utd, Ipswich and Man City.

The 26-year-old is already becoming a fan favourite at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but he has now admitted that not everything has been easy so far at his new club.

Kevin Danso determined to ace Tottenham challenges

Danso has looked at home in the Premier Leaguestraight away, which is perhaps down to the fact that he has played in the English topflight previously during his loan spell at Southampton back in 2019-20.

The centre-back has now admitted that he has faced some difficulties in readapting to English football, but he insisted that he is relishing the challenge of coming up against top strikers on a regular basis.

Danso told The Standard: “I try to get my body in the way of everything. That’s my identity as a centre-half, just try to make blocks, to stop the opposition coming through.