Yuriy Vernydub: Sheriff Tiraspol manager 'not afraid' as he leaves Europa League side to fight in Ukraine

Six months ago Yuriy Vernydub was celebrating wildly at the Bernabeu. His Sheriff Tiraspol team had just produced one of the great Champions League shocks, beating Real Madrid 2-1.It was a seismic result for the Moldovan league winners, who come from Transnistria, a breakaway republic under heavy Russian influence. A triumph against the 13-time European champions was barely believable for a side who came through four rounds of qualifying to reach the group stage and did so on an annual budget of around £5m.

Just over a week ago, on Thursday, 24 February, having eventually finished third in their Champions League group, Sheriff found themselves in Portugal for a Europa League knockout game. Ukrainian Vernydub and his players had arrived in Braga on the Wednesday to prepare for the game and he had gone to bed hoping for a good night's sleep as they got ready to defend a 2-1 first-leg lead.

Then, in the early hours of Thursday morning, the 56-year-old's life would change forever.

My son called me at 4:30am and he told me the Russians attacked us. I knew then that I would return to Ukraine to fight.

We flew home and landed in Iasi, Romania. I then went by bus to Tiraspol, in Transnistria, with the rest of the team on Friday evening and left for Ukraine first thing on Saturday morning. I enrolled on Sunday. It took 11 hours from Tiraspol to my home in Ukraine, travelling via Odessa, then through Kirovgrad, Kryvyy Rih and then Zaporoje, but I can't say it was difficult.

I don't want to lie to you. As I was returning home, I saw a lot of strong men leaving the country. If they will come back, I'll be happy. I understand they left with their families to Moldova, Romania and so on. From our area a lot of men have left… men from