Butt attack: who will keep a residence permit in the elite of Russian football

At the end of May, Russian football traditionally determines the fate of clubs in the play-off matches between the RPL and the First League. This year, Paris NN (13th place) and Akhmat (14th place) will compete for the right to remain in the elite. They will be opposed by Ural, which finished fourth in the First League, and Sochi, which finished the season fifth. The bronze medalist "Chernomorets" did not pass licensing, and his place in the play-off matches passed to the team that took a lower position.

Paris NN – Sochi

Nizhny Novgorod residents spent the spring season of the championship at a low level. After the winter transfers, everyone expected the transformation of the team, but it did not happen. The victory in the first round of the spring part over Akron (2:1) was the only one in almost two months, and against the background of the "revived" Orenburg, there was even talk of a direct flight. However, the end of the season was more successful: Nizhny Novgorod beat Akhmat (1-0) and defeated Krylia Sovetov (5-2) with poker by Juan Boselli.

Interestingly, Goncharenko already had a similar experience a year ago, when he was also fighting for survival with Ural. Then his team failed the second round, scoring only 11 points in the second part of the season (now Nizhny Novgorod has the same 11 points). As a result, Ural lost to Akron in the joints and took off. Goncharenko left the team before the second leg, after a 0-2 home defeat.

Now history can repeat itself — Paris NN is on the verge of relegation again, and the level of play is not encouraging. The opponent is Sochi, which, having retained head coach Robert Moreno after his departure from the RPL, showed good results. In the fall, the team played a series of 22 matches, in which they lost only twice. However, in the second part of the season, Sochi was not so stable and scored only one point in the final three rounds.

It is important to note that in the last match against Chernomorets, Moreno fielded a weakened squad, realizing that the first match would be in three days. After the defeat, the team dropped to 5th place and received Paris NN instead of Akhmat, who looks more convincing in the game. Therefore, the latest Sochi results should not be taken seriously.

In this confrontation, it is worth noting that Paris NN conceded the most in the RPL after the standards (24 goals, the same number from Akhmat and Orenburg), and Sochi is famous for its good implementation of penalties and corners, scoring 21 goals (second place in the league after Torpedo).

The matches between Paris NN and Sochi promise to be tense: Goncharenko cannot afford to fly out for the second time in a row, and Sochi is set to return to the elite.

Akhmat – Ural

The Grozny club scored only 25 points in 30 rounds (4 wins, 13 draws, 13 losses). But after Sergey Tashuev's arrival, Akhmat changed: he got out of last place and fought for his residence permit until the last games. The team suffered greatly due to injuries (leaders Bernard Berisha and Miroslav Bogosavac missed six months each) and poor penalty shooting (they did not score five of the six 11-meter shots in the season). But the main problem was the endings of the matches.: They conceded 18 goals after the 75th minute, eight of which were in added time.

In the spring, Akhmat played a series of 7 matches without defeats, but after being eliminated from the Cup by Lokomotiv (1:2), they did not win a single victory. There were problems in the key matches again: they lost to Paris NN (0:1), missing a penalty in stoppage time, and missed a draw with Akron (2:3) in the 85th minute.

For Ural, the play—off matches are the last chance to save an unsuccessful season. The team started the FNL championship with the goal of returning to the RPL directly, but in March they won only one victory in five games. After that, there was a weak stretch against the leaders (including a painful 2-5 from Baltika), and they risked being left even without joints. As a result, Ural managed to get into the safety zone and is now serious about returning to the RPL.

Interestingly, both teams are attacking more actively from the left flank. Akhmat's main star Lechi Sadulaev plays there, as well as Bogosavac, who has recovered from injury and always pushes the ball forward well. Ural has young midfielders Yuri Zheleznov and Egor Mosin on their left, who are always focused on dribbling and helping the team get into the final third. Intrigue is added by the confrontation with a former teammate — Arsen Adamov, familiar to the players of the Yekaterinburg club, is playing on the right edge of the Akhmat defense.

Under certain circumstances, we can see an open game where the outcome of the duels on the flanks will decide a lot.

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It is characteristic that Ural often pulled out the result at the very end. For example, in the penultimate round against Tyumen, they scored in the 94th and 96th minutes and won 2-1. In total, the bumblebees scored 12 goals after the 75th minute and scored strong-willed victories more than once. Fans from Yekaterinburg remember the home successes over Neftekhimik (0:2 by the 65th minute, the result is 3:2) and Shinnik (0:1 by the 81st minute, the result is 2:1). Therefore, the confrontation with Akhmat promises to be tense until the final whistle.

"These are just two games — anything can happen in them," Igor Smolnikov, Ural's vice president, told Izvestia. — In any case, our goal is to return to the Premier League. We've been working for this all season, and in the transition matches we'll give everything to get into the RPL. We have a fairly friendly team, and we feel the right chemistry and energy within the team — this will be the key to our success.

It is important to take into account that Khimki (12th in the RPL) did not pass the RFU licensing. If their appeal is rejected, the results of the play-off matches will remain valid. According to the regulations, the priority of maintaining a place in the RPL is given to the current participants of the league. This means that in case of defeat of Paris NN from Sochi, Nizhny Novgorod residents can keep their residence permit due to the status of the RPL club. If Paris NN wins and Akhmat loses to Ural, the Grozny team will get a chance to stay in the league through the RFU decision.

The first matches of the teams will be held on May 28, and the return matches on May 31.