'Who are Sheriff Tiraspol and where are they from?' That's what many football fans were asking in the summer of 2021 when they were drawn in a group with Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Moldovan side were expected to pick up no points and exit Europe as the bottom team in the group. But then the first shock happened — they beat Shakhtar in the opening match of the group stages 2-0.
Obviously being the second worst team in group who are famously much better at home than away, few took notice of Sheriff's victory and with Madrid on the horizon they expected normality to resume.
So to the Bernabeu Sheriff went, like Rocky Balboa stepping into the ring with Apollo Creed they were the clear underdog of the match trying to survive against the 13-time Champions.