Omonia hoping to repeat great display at Man United

After a hard-fought match and a superb effort displayed in the first leg of their Europa League group game last Thursday, Omonia will face Manchester United for the second time in a week, hoping to repeat and even improve the performance at Old Trafford tonight (10pm kick-off).

Two goals from Marcus Rashford and one from Anthony Martial were enough to beat Omonia 3-2 at the GSP stadium, despite Karim Ansarifard giving the Greens a 1-0 lead at half-time, and Nikolas Panayiotou giving the Red Devils a scare by scoring Omonia’s second in the 85th minute..

Omonia, who lost their last league game against AEL, will be without their star goalkeeper Fabiano, who has been ruled out with a shoulder injury.

“It’s a huge blow for us,” manager Neil Lennon told journalists after Monday’s defeat. “Medical test will tell us more about the severity of his injury.
“I am disappointed because we dominated the AEL game. We will have to be cynical and determined against Manchester United at an intimidating venue such as the Old Trafford.”

Despite the recent defeat, Omonia fans are upbeat and excited to travel to Manchester.
“A few years ago, if anyone told me that we would play Manchester United at Old Trafford in a European game, I would have called the hospital,” Savvas, a 30-year-old Omonia fan from Limassol told the Cyprus Mail.
“I have circled October 13 on my calendar since the day of the draw. The day after it took place I asked for days off at work, I knew I couldn’t miss it.”

Among the Omonia fans in Manchester, there will also be Cypriot students in the UK, some of whom in the past week were bombarded with questions by their classmates.
“I have been very vocal about my support from Omonia since I started my studies two years ago,” law student at the University of Manchester Kyriacos told the Cyprus Mail.
“Until last week, no one even knew what Omonia was, but throughout the past week everyone became curious about the team, its history and its players, especially after we surprised them with a terrific game in Nicosia.
“I can hardly contain my excitement. I just hope we won’t get completely battered, but even in that case, I will still be proud of the team.”

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has stressed that he will not use the fixture to give game-time to fringe players, as he is determined to secure three points in a bid to top Group E.
“All out for the victory,” he told Man Utd TV. “It’s Europe, it’s tough. We want to be number one in the group, so we want to win that game.”

Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Donny van de Beek and Martial look set to be sidelined for the game at Old Trafford.
However, first leg hero Rashford trained at Carrington on Wednesday, after overcoming a knock he sustained when blocking a shot in the dying seconds of the win at Everton on Sunday and will be available.