Brothers Teun and Peer Koopmeiners will line up against each other in midfield tonight as AZ Alkmaar host Juventus in the Europa League league phase, with Luciano Spalletti naming Randal Kolo Muani up front for an injury-hit Bianconeri side at the AFAS Stadion.
The confirmed teams were reported by Football Italia ahead of the 20:00 GMT kick-off in Alkmaar, where Juventus arrive unbeaten in this competition and AZ sit just one point behind them in the league-phase table.
The confirmed lineups
AZ Alkmaar: De Busser; Kasius, Goes, Schouten, De Wit; Peer Koopmeiners, Kwakman, Byskov; Stengs, Meerdink, Daal.
Juventus: Vicario; Kalulu, Gatti, Lucumi, Kelly; Teun Koopmeiners, Sarr; Alajbegovic, Woltemade, Cambiaso; Kolo Muani.
Juventus have taken seven points from their first three Europa League matches, thrashing NEC 5-0, winning 2-1 away at Celta Vigo and drawing 2-2 with Rennes. AZ are on six points, so a home win tonight would lift the Dutch side above their visitors. It is a busy night in the competition, with Crystal Palace also in early-evening action at Selhurst Park.
Senegal midfielder Pape Matar Sarr starts in the Juventus engine room alongside Teun Koopmeiners, while Nick Woltemade plays behind Kolo Muani and Kerim Alajbegovic keeps his place after his recent heroics against Napoli.
A family affair, and an injury list that will not clear
The headline team news is in the middle of the park. Teun Koopmeiners, the elder brother, anchors the Juventus midfield; directly opposite him, younger brother Peer Koopmeiners does the same job for AZ. Both are central midfielders, both start, and for ninety minutes family loyalty is suspended in Alkmaar.
There is history here, too. Teun Koopmeiners came through the AZ academy, captained the club and made his name in Alkmaar before leaving for Atalanta and then Juventus — so tonight is a homecoming as well as a family reunion, in front of the supporters who once sang his name. Peer, five years younger, has followed the same path through the AZ ranks and now owns the midfield role his brother once filled at the AFAS Stadion. One of them will leave the pitch tonight with the family bragging rights.
Spalletti has had little choice elsewhere. Juventus travelled to the Netherlands without eleven first-team players: Kenan Yildiz, Manuel Locatelli, Khephren Thuram, Francisco Conceicao, Nico Gonzalez, Zeki Celik and goalkeeper Kamil Grabara are all injured, and Weston McKennie is the latest absentee after only partially training this week. For AZ, there is a welcome return on the bench, where Kees Smit is in a matchday squad for the first time since September. Follow the action live on VAVEL as the night unfolds.
So what does it mean?
A win would strengthen Juventus' grip on a top-eight finish and automatic progress, but the bigger test may be what tonight costs them: with Fiorentina waiting in Serie A and the treatment room already full, Spalletti can ill afford another injury to a midfield that is down to its bones. For AZ, this is the kind of scalp that transforms a solid league-phase campaign into a statement one — and they will smell vulnerability in a Juve side held together by rotation.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Juventus have the bigger names, but this is exactly the sort of away night that punishes a patched-up team — if Peer Koopmeiners wins his personal duel with his brother, AZ win the midfield, and with it, probably the match. Which brother are you backing tonight — Teun or Peer?
