Real Madrid’s coach, Carlo Ancelotti, struggled to explain how his side were beaten 2-1 at home by rank outsiders Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League on Tuesday after dominating every aspect of the match with the exception of the scoreline.
Meanwhile his opposite number, Yuriy Vernydub, hit out at Dirk Kuyt, who had said while working as a pundit on Dutch TV last month that “teams like Sheriff Tiraspol have nothing to do with the Champions League”.
Luxembourg international midfielder Sébastien Thill scored an outstanding late half-volley to snatch an unlikely victory at the Bernabéu for Sheriff, who had reached the Champions League group stage for the first time this season after winning four qualifying rounds.
Sheriff took the lead against the run of play with a header from Jasurbek Yakhshiboev before Karim Benzema equalised for the 13-times European champions with a second-half penalty. Real had 30 shots on goal and 11 on target while keeping 67% of possession and winning 13 corners while the Moldovan side had only four attempts, scoring two of their three shots on target – including Thill’s winner – and failing to win a single corner.
“Everything went well for them while everything we did turned out badly,” Ancelotti said after his side’s first defeat of the season. “More than worried we are sad. We played with intensity and commitment but lost due to the finest details. The team played well, we could have been sharper in the area but it’s difficult to explain what happened. The small details cost us the game and we should learn from that in the future. But this was a defeat we did not deserve.”
Vernydub said victory was “so emotional” and went on to reference Kuyt’s comments, made on RTL 7 last month. “We are a real team … it’s our place and we proved it,” Vernydub said. “It was a great player, Dirk Kuyt, who said there is no place in the Champions League for Sheriff. So I’m very happy to destroy his perfect world.”
Sheriff, who were founded in 1997, are top of Group D with six points, having beaten Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 in their opening game. Their Peruvian defender Gustavo Dulanto said: “I dreamed of winning in the Bernabéu, I have 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 today’s result shows. We came here with the knife between our teeth but we can only look forward to the next game.”
Sheriff’s captain, Frank Castañeda, added that his side had fancied their chances before kick-off: “We knew we could win here and before the game we had it in our heads that we could, and as captain I tried to motivate the team and tell them we could do it because this is football. Real Madrid is 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 Thill said: “We’re so happy today. We played a really good game. The side were so brave with how we played and luckily enough I was able to score a bit of a stunner.”
