The claim agencies handling such cases usually first send some letters and let some time pass. They know they have a large amount of time to handle the case, so will be handling more time-sensitive cases first.

In this case there is a time limit but I'm not sure if such claim agency would take that into account. To be on the safe side, with AZ's current state, I would assume you will not receive any compensation (Even though you seem to be owed compensation). I'd recommend finding the most cost-effective way to either extend your time in NCE by a day, or, find another flight and forego the AZ one.