Paris NN vs Spartak Preview: Can New Coach Turn Things Around for Nizhny Novgorod Team?

Paris NN will play at home with Moscow Spartak, the meeting will start at 19:00 Moscow time. The Red Whites are in 4th place in the RPL standings, getting 42 points in 26 games. Nizhny Novgorod team is in 12th position with 28 points. The teams will play their fourth game this season; the first round match of the Russian Championship ended with a victory for Spartak with a score of 2:0. The red and white also won against Paris NN in two group stage games of the Fonbet Russian Cup (5:4, 3:0).

Paris NN are approaching the game with a six-game losing streak in the RPL. On April 28, after the match of the 26th round of the Russian Championship with Akhmat Grozny (1: 5), the board of directors of Paris NN accepted the resignation of the head coach Sergei Yuran, who had been working at the club from 2023. Anton Khazov was appointed as an actor. On May 4, Paris NN announced the appointment of Serbian Sasha Ilic to the position of head coach, the contract with the specialist will run until the end of the next season. In the first match, Ilic will face Spartak with Bosnian Vladimir Sliskovic, who, after the dismissal of Spaniard Guillermo Abascal, is the acting head coach of the capital’s team. Under the leadership of Sliskovic, the red and white played five games in all competitions, winning three and drawing twice.

Ilic plans to keep Pari NN registered in the RPL. “I came to this country because here I have the opportunity to develop my career and show what we can do,” he told reporters. – My good friend Vladimir Ivich worked in Russia, he showed good results here, and we also want to show them. I believe in the team, in the assembly, we intend to stay in the Premier League.” Ilic is 46 years old. his last club was the Greeks Atromitos, which he left to work at Paris NN. He was also the manager of CSKA Bulgaria from Sofia, the Serbian club Čukarichki, and he managed the Serbian youth teams (under 16 and 18). old).

Three-time Russian champion with CSKA Zoran Tosic, who played with Ilic for the Serbian Partizan, believes that his partner will be able to show himself in Russia. Tosic plays for Greek Lamia; in 2024, the team lost away to Atromitos (1:3), coached by Ilic. “We always talk on the phone, I knew he had offers. Of course, I told him about the Russian Championship, that this was a good opportunity to prove myself, to show all my knowledge, that it was just the beginning for him in Russia. I know his character, how much he knows about football, what he gives of himself, I have no doubt that everything will work out,” Tosic told TASS.

Paris NN have never beaten Spartak at home; the club was founded in 2015. On August 7, 2021, the Nizhny Novgorod team beat Spartak away with a score of 2:1 – this is their only victory over the red and white in seven games.

Dynamo in pursuit of Zenit and Krasnodar

Also on Sunday, Dynamo Moscow will host Sochi, the meeting will start at 16:30 Moscow time. The capital’s team is still claiming the championship; the team with 47 points is in 3rd place in the RPL standings. St. Petersburg Zenit is leading with 50 points, Krasnodar is second (50). Sochi is still fighting to keep its registration in the main division of the Russian championship.

Sochi is in last place, in 16th place in the RPL standings, getting 20 points in 26 games. The two teams that take 15th and 16th place will leave the RPL, their places will be taken by the two best teams from Melibet – the First League. Yekaterinburg Ural is in 15th position with 25 points. Sochi’s rivals are also Baltika Kaliningrad (26 points; 14th place) and Fakel Voronezh (27, 13). The 13th and 14th placed teams in the RPL table will play play-off games to maintain their standings with the 4th and 3rd placed teams of Melbet – First League, respectively. The play-offs will take place on 29 May and 1 June.

The program of the 27th round of the RPL started on Saturday, on this day Orenburg beat Krylia Sovetov Samara (2:1) at home, Krasnodar lost at home to Akhmat Grozny (0:1). On May 6, the matches “Ural” – “Baltika”, “Fakel” – “Zenit”, CSKA – “Rubin” and “Lokomotiv” – “Rostov” will be held.