Sheriff Tiraspol face Serbian side Partizan on neutral turf in nearby Chisinau this Thursday in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
The match will be played behind closed doors and not in Sheriff's hometown of Transnistria for alleged safety concerns.
Match preview
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UEFA ordered the game to be moved away from the breakaway region on the Moldovan border due to the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
However, on Tuesday there was another twist as the Moldovan government ordered no spectators to be permitted entry.
Moldovan officials have alleged that some travelling Partizan supporters are pro-Russian nationalists and were set to attempt a coup to overthrow the government, so took the decision to ban them entry into the country.
In what was set to be a very intriguing tie, it is a shame that there will be no spectators to create a raucous atmosphere as Sheriff aim to win a European knockout tie for the first time in their history.
Their domestic campaign does not resume until mid-March, so they will be thrown right in at the deep end with arguably the biggest match of their season.
They are six points clear at the top of the Moldovan Super Liga, but they have arguably been slightly below par compared to their usual standards.
Under the stewardship of Stjepan Tomas, and then caretaker Victor Mihailov, Sheriff did what they had to do to ensure they remained in Europe though, beating Omonia Nicosia home and away in a devilishly difficult Europa League group.
Facing Manchester United and Real Sociedad was always likely going to be far too tough an assignment for them to navigate, but they were very unfortunate not to claim a draw at Old Trafford, falling to a late 1-0 defeat.
They dropped into the Europa Conference League though thanks to 3-0 and 1-0 victories against Omonia, and new manager Roberto Bordin will hope they can go one better than last season in Europe.
Defeat to Braga at this stage of the Europa League a year ago was the furthest they have gone in Europe, helped massively by that astonishing win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League where they finished third.
Despite the lack of match preparation for Sheriff, they are facing possibly the perfect opponents in the form of Partizan.
The Serbian giants are still reeling after a shocking 4-0 loss at home to second-bottom Mladost GAT, a side playing in the Serbian top flight for the first time this season.
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It was the first time they had lost by four goals since Athletic Bilbao inflicted a similar defeat on them in 2015, and it was undoubtedly one of the worst results in the club's domestic history.
It also leaves them a near-unassailable 11 points behind bitter rivals Red Star Belgrade at the top of the table.
All season though they have reserved their best form for this competition, so that will give them some belief after a torrid week.
Gordan Petric's side knocked Koln out in the group stage, beating the Bundesliga side home and away, and they took points off Nice in Belgrade.
Partizan's European pedigree dwarfs that of Sheriff's, given that they were European Cup finalists in 1966, but very little separates the sides coming into this one.
The only previous meetings came in qualification for the 2005-06 Champions League, where the Serbian side came out on top, 2-0 on aggregate.
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Team News
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Sheriff have not played a competitive fixture since early November so their side could look drastically different here.
They brought in six players during the January transfer window, two of whom were Munashe Garananga and Amine Talal, who have both featured in recent friendlies.
Abou Ouattara missed their last competitive outing and he remains their only injury doubt, while Rasheed Akanbi is suspended.
Edmund Addo, one of the few players who was left from the history-making side that beat Real Madrid, has left to join Spartak Subotica.
Petric made six changes to the Partizan side at the weekend, perhaps with this game in mind, but that decision backfired given the scoreline.
The manager could revert back to a similar XI which saw off Napredak on their competitive return two weeks ago.
Captain Slobodan Urosevic is suspended after accumulating three bookings during the group stage.
Veteran Israeli Bibras Natcho is set to make his 131st appearance in UEFA competitions here.
Sheriff Tiraspol possible starting lineup:
Koval; Zohouri, Kiki, Garananga, Kpozo; Talal, Kyabou, Diop; Basit, Atiemwen, Badolo
Partizan possible starting lineup:
Popovic; Zivkovic, Vujacic, Markovic, Filipovic; Fejsa, Natcho, Andrade, Diabate, Jovic; Gomes
We say: Sheriff Tiraspol 1-1 Partizan
Playing behind closed doors denies Sheriff the opportunity to play in front of a full stadium which they usually attract for European fixtures, and with many incoming and outgoings during January, it will be interesting to see how settled the side is.
Partizan will be hopeful of any kind of result to take back home for the return leg in Belgrade, where their fanatical home support could play a huge role.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
