Last season FC Sheriff Tiraspol was the European ‘Cinderella’. A small club from Moldova was first Eastern Europe ‘giant killer’, as they defeated former European champion Red Star Belgrade, and then Dinamo Zagreb before they moved into the Champions League to claim the ultimate prize – a win over Real at Santiago Bernabeu. With a win over Shakhtar Donetsk, they finished as the third in the group, ahead of the Ukrainian giants and finished their European quest in Europa League. This season, Viktoria Plzen prevented them from another participation among the Europe’s elite, but they are still hoping for another miracle.Antony on facing Sheriff Tiraspol: “We’ll face difficulties. We know it will be a tough game. [But] everybody knows about the greatness of Manchester United, so we’ll go on the pitch and honour this important badge.” #MUFC pic.twitter.com/i0Jgsp8hZx— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) September 14, 2022 Manchester United are the unlikely participant in Europa League, as Erik Ten Hag’s men were looking to play in the Champions League, but just weren’t good enough. And after losing against Sociedad last week, they need to win in Chisinau tonight, but it won’t be that easy. Sheriff is a tough opponent, they easily won 3-0 in Cyprus last week, and their main strength are Africans, all 15 of them!#mufc’s travelling squad vs Sheriff Tiraspol: De Gea, Heaton, Vitek, Lindelof, Maguire, Martinez, Malacia, Varane, Dalot, Shaw; Fernandes, Eriksen, Fred, Casemiro, McTominay, Iqbal; Ronaldo, Antony, Sancho, Elanga, Garnacho, McNeill. #UEL— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) September 14, 2022 Last week in Cyprus, Croatian coach Stjepan Tomas named a starting 11 in which there are no Moldovan players. There were two football players each from Nigeria and Burkina Faso, one each from Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Mali and Ivory Coast, and the Europeans were the captain, football player from Bosnia and Herzegovina Stjepan Radeljić and Ukrainian Maksim Koval.A year eaten by grasshoppersAnd the combined African squad will face the Red Devils led by Cristiano Ronaldo, who will probably start, like he did last week against Sociedad. Rashford had a minor injury and stayed in England, and along with already injured Martial. The game will be played in Chisinau and not at Sheriff Stadium, located in Transnistria – a breakaway state which is not recognised internationally. And following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UEFA stated that Sheriff cannot play their European games in the region.
