In the first round of the group tournament, the teams played the most productive match of the current Russian Cup: the game in Moscow ended with a score of 5:4. Numerous fans who came to the Nizhny Novgorod arena on Tuesday were expecting such an extravaganza. Despite it being a weekday and the early start of the match, more than 30 thousand spectators gathered in the stands.

If Spartak scored maximum points in the previous three matches of the Cup and almost solved the problem of leaving the group, then Paris NN had only two points on their account for defeating Dynamo on penalties. Another defeat in regulation time brought Sergei Yuran’s team closer to elimination from the tournament after the group stage.

Klassen – chief specialist at Paris NN

Guillermo Abascal, even in championship matches, does not hesitate to resort to wide rotation, and in the Cup, in this regard, it unfolds in full. This time he completely changed the lineup that appeared from the first minutes in Sunday’s game with Sochi. Defenders Maslov, Klassen and striker Meleshin, who were used to watching RPL matches from the bench, also got their chance.

The composition of the Nizhny Novgorod team was close to a combat one: from the first minutes, more than half of the players who started the game with Dynamo in the last round of the championship took to the field. Including the main star of the team at the start of the season, Edgar Sevikyan, who scored against Spartak in the first cup game.

In the first half there was no scoring extravaganza. The teams acted in the most disciplined manner in front of their goal, allowing the opponents to create almost nothing. The nature of the game resembled not an ordinary match in the group stage, but a decisive match at the playoff stage. This was reflected in the abundance of tough junctions and gross violations of the rules.

Spartak had more possession of the ball, but given the tight defense of Paris NN, the guests could not count on many chances. Yuran’s team chose, as in the Moscow game, to act as number two, counting on quick counterattacks and set pieces.

Ironically, it was not the hosts who scored in the counterattack, but Spartak. Klassen managed to distinguish himself, hitting Botnar with a shot into the near corner. An interesting fact: before this season, Klassen, who joined the team in the winter of 2021, had never scored for Spartak. Now he has two goals to his name – both against Paris NN in the Cup.

Open video

After the goal was scored, the nature of the game did not change: the Nizhny Novgorod team still had little possession of the ball, only occasionally organizing attacks. One of the few visits to someone else’s penalty area could well have ended with a penalty against Maksimenko. Umyarov hit Ze Turbo in the back of the head with his elbow, but the main referee of the match, Evgeniy Bulanov, did not see a violation of the rules in this episode.

Spartak was the first to qualify for the playoffs

At the beginning of the second half, Paris NN’s bet on a counterattack still worked, but Troshechkin’s goal was eventually canceled after VAR intervention due to a foul on the part of Sevikyan. The home team’s player, trying to hit the goal, hit Umyarov’s leg.

Open video

Within a minute, Yuran managed to experience the whole range of emotions: at first he was happy about the goal scored, and then he became furious because of the decision of the main referee, who watched the replay.

After the episode with the disallowed goal, there was less football, but there was an abundance of nerves and blows to the legs. There were also plenty of injuries and forced substitutions: in the first half, the hosts’ defender Tikhy left the field due to injury, and after the break Meleshin was unable to continue the game.

“Spartak” impressed in this game with dedication and clear actions in defense. It is difficult to remember so many single combats won by Spartak in one match this season. With such resistance, Pari NN achieved almost nothing ahead. The defenders provided Maksimenko with a carefree life: the Spartak goalkeeper did not even have to make any incredible saves.

In the end, the Nizhny Novgorod team tried to make a classic attack on someone else’s penalty area, but Spartak quite easily coped with all the attacks and even managed to score twice themselves in stoppage time. First, a beautiful goal was organized by the substitutes Promes and Martins.

Open video

The final score was scored by the same Promes, who appeared on the field only in the 87th minute, but still managed to score 1+1.

Abascal’s team won the fourth victory in a row in the group stage and was the first among all participants to secure access to the playoffs of the RPL Path of the Russian Cup.