Rouamba shines as pair crash out
Florent Rouamba's wonder goal earned FC Sheriff a 1-1 Europa League draw at home to AZ Alkmaar but it was not enough to keep them in the competition as both sides went out.
The Burkino Faso midfielder arrowed a shot into the bottom left corner from 35 yards in the 54th minute to cancel out Brett Holman's early opener for AZ.
The point left the sides joint bottom of Group E on four points with rivals Dynamo Kiev and BATE Borisov comfortably clear on 10. Dynamo's victory over BATE meant even victory would not have been good enough to keep Sheriff's or AZ's hopes of qualification alive.
AZ's only points in the group coming into the match had been courtesy of their 2-1 home win over the Moldovans in their first game, but they almost went behind after just six minutes.
Goalkeeper Sergio Romero had to be on his toes to tip Jymmy Franca's shot round the post.
The visitors were soon into their stride, though, Pontus Wernbloom bringing a smart save out of Dmitri Stajila.
And Australia forward Holman put them in front in the 17th minute, finishing Rasmus Elm's ball in from the left low into the near bottom corner.
At the other end Franca tested Romero again, although this time it was a routine save for the Argentinian, before AZ came close to extending their lead either side of the interval.
First Kolbeinn Sigthorsson saw his effort parried by Stajila and then Wernbloom headed over the top of from Ragnar Klavan's cross.
But the Eredivisie outfit were stunned just two minutes late when, out of nothing, Rouamba brought Sheriff level, finding the corner of Romero's net with his right foot from way out.
Sigthorsson headed over the top from Stijn Schaars' inswinging corner as AZ sought a response and Franca also went high with a shot for Sheriff.
The hosts tried their luck again in the 82nd minute with an Alexander Erokhin volley which went wide, but both sides had long since appeared resigned to their fate.
FC Sheriff 1-1 AZ: Match Report - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game as it happened.
Source: DSG
