Athletistic / Football. As part of the 27th round of the RPL, a rather controversial match took place between the home team and Spartak in Nizhny Novgorod. It was the most anticipated match of the season for the city. Everyone expected a vacation, but it turned out to be a funeral for football. No one has played this game in the Premier League for a long time. Unlike the match between Dynamo and Sochi, which ended the day before, it was generally a tragedy. But Pari NN’s mission was to grab at least a few points at all costs. The struggle for survival is a cruel thing.
It all started badly at the start of the broadcast. Paris NN played at home, in their city, in their stadium. But on the television image it was clearly visible that 80% of the fans in the stands were wearing red and white scarves. When the commentator in the arena tried to charge “Forward to Nizhny!” ”, he received the response “Forward, Spartak!” And this could be understandable if Spartak came to visit Sochi, which does not have such a great history, or to a first or second league team, where matches with reds and whites are a rarity and a holiday for towns. But no, the teams played in Nizhny Novgorod. In a city that has a football history.
Yes, Spartak has a large army of supporters in every city of the country. And many red and white supporters from the regions come to watch away matches. But the fact that Spartak fans are in the majority is a disaster for the home team. In a conventional Samara, it is difficult to imagine that the charge “Forward for the wings!” » The entire stadium responded by chanting “Forward, Spartak!” In Samara, they honor and love their team, and even in the era of “FAN-ID” they support it. The vast majority of people in the stands wear green, white and blue scarves, not red and white scarves. In Nizhny Novgorod, everything was reversed.
Then the match itself began. Paris NN started actively and the game was interesting for the first 15-20 minutes. But gradually Spartak began to take the initiative. Midway through the first half, the Red-White advantage in possession was gigantic. “Paris NN” with the whole team fell back on the defensive and defended very low. Nizhny Novgorod played very tight in defense and almost the entire team defended in their own penalty area. A human shield of Paris NN players lined up in front of Nigmatullin’s goal, which was very difficult to break through. Spartak tried to play, tried different options to develop the attack, but it did not work. The Paris NN was finally sinking into its own area. When Nizhny Novgorod had rare opportunities to escape during a counterattack, no more than 1-2 players attacked. The others took a breath and prepared to continue their defense, without joining the offensive actions.
Despite the impressive advantage in possession, Spartak could not create anything in the first half. Sliskovic realized that in such a game it was necessary to charge into the penalty area as much as possible. That is why during the second half he began to release tall players. But even Sobolev couldn’t do anything with the Paris NN defense. Nizhny Novgorod played 0:0 that evening. And he achieved his goal. An important point has been won in the fight for survival.
Such anti-football and “bus” game killed the football party. During the entire match, neither team was able to create anything dangerous. It has been a long time since there has been such anti-publicity towards Premier League football. Someone is trying to get results by playing like Sochi. And some – like Pari NN. But as a result, Sochi was left without points, and Paris NN still managed to get something. But it’s a disaster.
Sliskovic remains undefeated and Ilic made his RPL debut with a draw against Spartak. But those are the only positive aspects of this match. It can be assumed that after this match Spartak will put all its strength into the Russian Cup, because the chances of fighting for medals are becoming slim. We can only hope that Paris NN will not play such a “bus” game in the remaining matches. We don’t need this football.
Daniil Chugunov, Sport.Ru
Source: Sport
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
