Spartak beat Paris Nizhny Novgorod and advanced to the play-offs of the Russian Football Cup ahead of schedule

In the fourth round of the Fonbet group stage of the Russian Cup, Spartak won a major victory over Paris Nizhny Novgorod – 3:0, which ensured early access to the play-offs from first place. With 12 points, the red and white are already out of reach for Krasnodar and Dynamo. After the Kuban team beat Dynamo on penalties, these clubs now have five points each.

After three rounds of the group round of the Russian Cup, the leader of the Premier League, Krasnodar, had only three points to its credit and suffered two defeats, despite the fact that it had not yet lost at all in the championship. However, the situation for Vladimir Ivich’s team was still under control, since Dynamo scored only one point more, and Nizhny Novgorod, accordingly, one less. Moreover, she still had home matches with her direct competitors in reserve.

Another thing is that another misfire could already significantly complicate the position of the Kuban team, who reached the final in the last Russian Cup. And in the meeting with Dynamo they had great difficulties.

The Muscovites somehow immediately paved the way to Stanislav Agkatsev’s goal and began to replicate scoring chances, which the Krasnodar goalkeeper turned into colorful saves.

True, having effectively parried the shots of Alexander Kutitsky and Yaroslav Gladyshev, Agkatsev clearly made a mistake on the interception far into the field, but he was lucky that Daniil Lesovoy threw the ball too far past him, and then the goalkeeper managed to restore his position in the frame and did not allow the Dynamo player to score.

However, Lesovoy showed persistence and soon scored an effective pass to Dynamo newcomer Bitella. The 23-year-old Brazilian, bought from Gremio before the closure of the summer transfer window for €10 million, according to Transfermarkt, showed the goods with his face and shot at the technique, expertly placing the ball into the net from the post.

Before the break, the guests sometimes simply crushed Krasnodar, although both teams made massive personnel changes compared to the championship matches. In the first half, the hosts only tested the readiness of Dynamo goalkeeper Igor Leshchuk once after a shot from Mikhailo Banjac. And in the second, at first they looked unimportant and still stayed in the game only thanks to Agkatsev, who made another brilliant save when Gladyshev seemed to perfectly charge under the bar. A little earlier, the Dynamo player hit the crossbar.

But, having squandered a bunch of chances, Marcel Lička’s team apparently angered fortune, and it turned to face its opponent.

In addition, Ivic made several substitutions that influenced the result. Leshchuk already found himself in Agkatsev’s shoes and was forced to actively engage in rescue work, however, he also failed to keep the goal “dry”. Kadi Borges equalized the score from Banjac’s pass and could subsequently bring victory to the hosts.

As a result, regular time ended in a draw – 1:1, and in the penalty shootout, Krasnodar still put the finishing touches on Dynamo. Again Agkatsev came to the fore, parrying the very first two blows from Konstantin Tyukavin and Fedor Smolov. Leshchuk only dealt with Juan Bashi, and the Kuban team won 4:2. Thus, they earned a bonus point and, with five points, caught up with the Muscovites, who are higher in the standings in terms of additional indicators.

Meanwhile, the leader of Group D, Spartak, was visiting Nizhny Novgorod.

In this regard, of course, it was difficult not to remember their enchanting match in Moscow with nine goals. But in the return match it was hardly worth counting on the continuation of the festival. The head coach of the Nizhny Novgorod team, Sergei Yuran, basically does not have a festival team: as a rule, they score few goals and concede few goals. The red-whites have also somehow lost their attacking spirit lately.

True, as in the first match, Spartak defender Leon Klassen opened the scoring again. Moreover, he only scores great goals for Nizhny – and now, bursting into the penalty area at an angle, he stabbed the ball into the “nine” closest to him. But this was the only scoring episode in the first half, and the players hardly even hit the goal.

After the break, the hosts finally also carried out an effective attack, when Vladislav Karapuzov hit the post, and Alexander Troshechkin was the first to finish. However, as VAR established, this was preceded by a violation of the rules by Edgar Sevikyan on Nail Umyarov, so referee Evgeniy Bulanov canceled the goal. And then the drought came again.

The Nizhny Novgorod team really wanted to win back and constantly moved forward, but apart from desire and effort, they could not present more compelling arguments.

Spartak’s second line-up also lacked the skill to create an edge in attack. Except that Mikhail Ignatov caught the crossbar. And when Pavel Meleshin was injured, the guests played without nominal forwards. Only Anton Zinkovsky loomed at the forefront, who usually acts as a carrier of shells, and by no means a bombardier. Muscovites coach Guillermo Abascal never released Alexander Sobolev onto the field, and Quincy Promes appeared only in the 87th minute.

Surprisingly, even this minimum was enough for the Dutchman to decide the outcome of the match. He immediately organized a scoring chance for Klassen, who missed and failed to score a double. But his pass to Christopher Martins was not lost, and the Luxembourger easily dealt with goalkeeper Vitaly Botnar. Moreover, before the final whistle, Promes scored himself, running one-on-one with the goalkeeper from the center circle. But nothing foreshadowed a major victory for Spartak – 3:0. With 12 points, the red-whites already guaranteed themselves a way out of the group in first place.

The first victory in the current Russian Cup was won by Krylia Sovetov. Samara, currently in third place in the championship, defeated Baltika away – 2:1. But for now they are still last in group C, and the Kaliningraders are first.

Alexander Ilyin