On This Day - What happened 16 September 2014 AD

On 28 August 2014, Van Basten took a leave of absence for the following match against Dordrecht, with multiple Dutch news outlets reporting he was suffering of stress-related heart palpitations, and was replaced by assistant coaches Alex Pastoor and Dennis Haar. Later, on 3 September, AZ confirmed Van Basten was given an extended leave of absence until 14 September.On 16 September 2014, parties agreed Van Basten would relinquish his role as manager in order to sign a new contract as assistant coach until 2016; this was motivated by Van Basten himself, who stated the stress caused by his full-time role as head coach was causing him physical and mental issues. He finished his stint with two wins and three losses in five matches.

On 16 September 2014, Immobile scored his first goal for the club, opening a 2–0 home win over Arsenal in the group stages of the Champions League. He scored four goals in six Champions League matches, in a 3–0 away win over Anderlecht, in a 4–1 home win over Galatasaray and in a 1–1 home draw vs Anderlecht, with Borussia qualifying as first from the group. On 17 December 2014, Immobile assisted the first goal and scored the second on a 2–2 home draw with Wolfsburg.