By Clive LindsayBBC Sport Scotland

Last updated on .From the section Football

Dundee United are left disappointed against AZ
Dundee United had led 1-0 from the first leg

AZ Alkmaar qualified for the play-offs as a result of their heavy defeat of Dundee United.

It's the same as defeats by Celtic and Barcelona.

The roof fell after United gave up five goals in 23 minutes.

Vangelis Pavlidis and Tijjani Reijnders both scored three times and Hakon Evjen and Mayckel Lahdo did the same.

  • Reaction & as it happened

The last time United qualified, they were thrashed by Dinamo Moscow in the second leg of their match.

Jack Ross' side will be licking their wounds ahead of Sunday's Scottish Premiership trip to face Heart of Midlothian after being beaten by Gil Vicente in Portugal.

United's head coach sacrificed the flair of first-leg scorer Glenn Middleton and handed a debut to Australia left-back as the experience of Charlie Mulgrew and Ian Harkes were brought back into the side.

The solidity shown in the first leg looked to have returned as they subdued AZ for the first quarter, but United failed to heed the warning signs.

The United defence was opened up by a flowing passing move and Milos Kerkez was able to cut in front of the defence to find the net.

Harkes' athletic hitch- kick was superbly palmed over by Verhulst.

Visiting optimism began to diminish as Reijnders scored.

The Greece forward headed into the empty net after the United goalkeeper fumbled a corner and punched thin air as he looked to meet the ball.

As United struggled to clear inside their penalty box, Reijnders fired home and fellow bicyle Evjen followed suit from 20 yards away.

Jack's half-time advice had little effect as AZ increased their lead in their first attack of the second half as De Wit followed up a blocked shot.

With 15 minutes remaining, Lahdo drilled in the Dutch side's final goal, but there was still time for Pavlidis to be denied a hat-trick, and United avoided going down in history with the worst ever Scottish defeat.

Man of the match - Pavlidis (AZ)

AZ striker Vangelis Pavlidis celebrates
Striker Vangelis Pavlidis scored twice but came close to a hat-trick and ran the United defence ragged with his movement

There's more to come.