To make up for their 1-0 loss to Real Sociedad last week, Manchester United will play FC Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova on Thursday in their second Group E matchup. Sheriff, on the other hand, is no stranger to surprising outcomes and made headlines last year when they beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. If anyone thinks this will be easy for the Red Devils, they might want to think again.
Sheriff plays in the Moldovan Super Liga, the top division of the Moldovan football league system, with their headquarters in the city of Tiraspol, which is in the unincorporated breakaway state of Transnistria. Despite only having been established in 1997, the team has enjoyed a highly successful existence, winning 20 league titles, 11 Moldovan Cups, and 7 Moldovan Super Cups in the past 25 years, though they have not won all three in the same year since 2016.
The club plays its home games at the 12,746-capacity Sheriff Stadium in Tiraspol, but since Russia invaded Ukraine, they have played all of their European games at the 10,400-capacity Zimbru Stadium in Chisinau, home of the Moldovan national team and Zimbru Chisinau. The sheriff has won 20 of the last 22 titles in the Moldovan Super Liga, including the last seven. Last season, they won the division by six points with 22 wins from 28 matches and only two losses. In addition to winning the Moldovan Cup, the team completed the double.
Overall, they are one of the rising stars of Moldovian football and opponents should not take them lightly as they can surely cause a few upsets. Football is an unpredictable game after all and you never know which team can end up snatching victory in the last moments of a match.