“Nizhny Novgorod” and “Fakel” won the play-offs, the RPL determined the composition of the participants for the next season

The composition of the participants for the next season has been determined in the Russian Premier League. Following the results of the play-offs between the clubs of the RPL and the first division, Pari Nizhny Novgorod and Fakel retained their residence in the elite. Nizhny Novgorod lost to Motherland Moscow 0:2 at home, but prevailed thanks to a more significant away victory. The Voronezh team, who defeated Enisey Krasnoyarsk in the first meeting, dealt with it at home as well — 2:0.

After the Premier League clubs won their play-offs away from the representatives of the first division, there was almost no doubt that Nizhny Novgorod and Fakel would remain in the elite of domestic football. Nizhny Novgorod after a major victory over “Motherland” 3:0, it seemed that they could not worry about anything at all. And some semblance of intrigue was preserved only in the confrontation between Fakel and Yenisei, since Voronezh in Krasnoyarsk achieved a minimal advantage – 1:0.

However, even Nizhny Novgorod did not need to lose vigilance so as not to create problems for itself out of the blue. However, already in the fourth minute, referee Vitaly Meshkov appointed a penalty to the hosts’ goal, fixing Ilya Zhigulev’s handball after filing from a standard position. Then a few more minutes were spent on analyzing the episode by the VAR team, which even asked Meshkov himself to review it on the monitor, but he did not change his mind, and Rodina got an excellent chance to score an early goal, which was extremely important in her situation.

Nizhny goalkeeper Artur Nigmatullin coped with Ivan Timoshenko’s first shot, but he hit the ball unsuccessfully, and the Muscovites striker opened the scoring with a rebound.

It seems to be nothing terrible for Nizhny Novgorod has not yet happened. And they tried to immediately prove that the success of Rodina was accidental. But the guests successfully repulsed a series of attacks by the team of Sergei Yuran, and in the middle of the first half they doubled the advantage. And again they scored from a set piece, this time from a corner, and the powerful Amur Kalmykov, who started this season in the Premier League with Torpedo, sent the ball into the net with his head. Rodina quickly took the lead 2-0, and now it was already very serious. The “lower” even “floated” a little, thinking more about how to make it to the break without squandering their entire margin of safety than about how to score and restore the status quo.

In the locker room, Juran, apparently, had to shake up the wards. In addition, the head coach of the hosts made a triple substitution. Nevertheless, the second half began with an unpleasant blow by Astemir Gordyushenko and a save by Nigmatullin. Rodina was hooked on the result and was patiently waiting for the next chance, while Nizhny Novgorod was visibly nervous and still had difficulty in attacking. In principle, all football was reduced to a viscous, over-contact positional struggle with many violations and pauses. The guests still somehow tried to be creative, but stumbled upon the deaf defense of the opponent, who did not even hesitate to play on the retreat. The ending, of course, was nervous. Rodina attacked, while Nizhny only fought back and eventually lost with a score that suited him 0:2.

In the match between Fakel and Yenisei, there was also a penalty in the very debut. Here it was earned by the hosts, when Evgeny Markov, the author of the winning goal in Krasnoyarsk, collapsed on the lawn in single combat with Nikolai Markov.

At the same time, the incident looked ambiguous and at least deserved a VAR check, but for technical reasons there was no video assistance system in Voronezh, so there was no one to correct judge Sergei Ivanov. Roman Akbashev clearly converted the 11-meter shot and increased the difference in the sum of two meetings to two goals. And then Fakel confidently controlled the game, keeping Krasnoyarsk players away from the goal. In the first half, Valeriy Kichin hit the target twice from a distance, and the hosts’ goalkeeper Ilya Svinov calmly parried both blows.

To avoid the risk of being in the minority, Voronezh’s mentor Vadim Evseev even replaced captain Irakli Kvekveskiri before the break, who “hung” on a yellow card and continued to act on the verge of a foul. But he was perhaps the best player in the ranks of the “Fakel” and was remembered, among other things, for a dangerous blow near the post. Although, perhaps, Evseev was overly reinsured, removing the team leader from the field. In any case, already in the second half, without Kvekveskiri in the support zone, the hosts began to sag a little, and Enisey seized the initiative. Andrey Okladnikov just missed the height of the jump to hit the target after a sharp cross from Kirill Ushatov.

True, Torch midfielder Mohamed Brahimi also ruined a super moment when he ruined a potentially assisted pass by Khyzyr Appaev and missed from a lethal distance. And yet Voronezh caught the guests on the counterattack.

The same Appaev, who acted as captain after the departure of Kvekveskiri, brought one on one with Evgeny Staver Akbashev, who skillfully threw the ball over the goalkeeper and scored a double. “Yenisei” did not accept the defeat and spent the rest of the match at the opponent’s goal, and Yegor Ivanov even hit the crossbar from a free kick. But Fakel did not miss the victory – 2:0.

Thus, only two clubs left the Premier League – Khimki and Torpedo, which left the elite directly, taking 15th and 16th places, respectively. And Rubin Kazan and Baltika Kaliningrad moved up from the first division, which also won direct vouchers.

Alexander Ilyin