Inside Sheriff's remarkable journey to beat Real Madrid in Champions League

Sheriff Tiraspol caused the biggest upset in UEFAChampions League history with their stunning win over European kings Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

The Champions League debutants secured an historic 2-1 win over 13-time winners Real to sit top of Group D, with maximum points, after also beating Shakhtar Donetsk.

They are making their debut in the competition and are complete unknowns on the elite Champions League stage, hailing from a state not even recognised by the international community.

Sheriff are from Trans-Dniester, a tiny area bordering Ukraine, which declared itself independent from Moldova following a short and bitter war in 1992, which claimed around one thousand lives.

Sheriff now sit top of Group D ahead of Real Madrid ( Image:

REUTERS)

The team are backed by the vast resources of the Sheriff company, whose annual turnover is almost double that of the Moldovan state budget.

The company owns a chain of petrol stations, supermarkets, a TV channel, a publishing house, a construction company, a mobile phone network and other lucrative business interests.

While the rest of the top division in Moldova play on pitches rented from municipal authorities, Sheriff's home is a £154million purpose-built arena on the outskirts of Tiraspol.

So while Sheriff's historic victory in the Bernabeu has stunned the football world, this is no rags to riches tale, but one of significant investment over a period of years.

Having been restricted to fielding largely Moldovan players because of home-grown quotas, a relaxing of that regulation has allowed Sheriff to sign players from Brazil, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Luxembourg, Trinidad and Tobago and Peru.

Sebastien Thill's 89th-minute thunderbolt gave Sheriff all three points ( Image:

REUTERS)

Tuesday's momentous win was a dream for Sheriff and their multi-national squad. "I dreamed of winning in the Bernabeu," said Sheriff defender Gustavo Dulanto, who hails from Peru.

"I've always followed Madrid, they are the most successful team in the Champions League so to beat them at home is a huge achievement.

"There's still a long way to go and we can't relax because there's no logic in football, as this result showed. We came here with the knife between our teeth but we can only look forward to the next game."

Captain Frank Castaneda revealed his side fancied their chances before kick-off and said they were not overawed by taking on Real in such an iconic stadium as the Bernabeu.

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"We knew we could win here and before the game we had it in our heads that we could," said Castaneda, a forward who hails from Colombia.

"Real Madrid are an historic team, but on the pitch it's 11 players versus 11 and we came here to get the victory and got it."

Match-winner Sebastien Thill, a Luxembourg international, scored an 89th-minute winner to complete the biggest upset in the history of the European Cup, eclipsing Celtic's 2012 win over the mighty Barcelona.

"We're so happy," said Thill. "We played a really good game. The side were so brave with how we played and luckily enough I was able to score a stunner."