Neil Lennon, a former manager of Celtic who is now the manager of Omonia Nicosia, has set his sights on taking a major scalp from Manchester United when the two teams meet on Thursday in the Europa League. This is the case even though some of his players are fans of the Red Devils.

This week, the team captained by Erik ten Hag will travel to Cyprus for the third match of their Group E campaign in Europe's secondary competition, hoping to build on their 2-0 victory over FC Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova in their most recent match.

But Lennon is confident that his team can get off to a strong start in the Europa League by picking up a victory against one of the giants of the Premier League on their own turf, despite the fact that today is an especially significant day for some members of his squad.

According to the Daily Record, he stated: "We are looking forward to the match against Manchester United for a variety of reasons, the most obvious of which is the fact that they are one of the most successful clubs in the world. It's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my players, many of whom are big fans of Manchester United.

"They are very popular in other parts of the world, and we are happy to have them here. On the other hand, we intend to compete and derive some benefit from the game. They have recently won against Liverpool and Arsenal, and after getting off to a rough start, it appears that they have found a way to turn things around and are now sailing more smoothly.

"But considering that any given team is capable of defeat on any given day, we have no choice but to have faith that we can prevail. We have to make an effort to come away with something from the game in order to establish some sort of standing in the group."

Omonia face Manchester United in the Europa League on Thursday.

Lennon refused to identify who of his players were fans of the Red Devils, but he has pushed all of his players to make history and make the most of the circumstance on Thursday. This is especially important given that Omonia are currently in last place in the group after suffering two losses.

The team from Nicosia came in seventh place in the Cypriot First Division the previous year, but they advanced to the play-off round of the Europa League because they won the Cypriot Cup. In the play-off round, they competed against a team from Belgium called Genk and defeated them 4-0 over the course of two legs to advance to the group stage.

A defeat at home by Sheriff by a score of 3-0 was followed by a defeat away at Real Sociedad by a score that was more respectable but still a loss by that score. This left them in last place in the group ahead of a double header against the Red Devils, which could almost certainly decide their fate in the group ahead of their final two matches.

Against a team that features players such as Welsh international Adam Matthews, former Celtic forward Gary Hooper, and former Manchester City youngster Brandon Barker, Ten Hag's side will be expected to pick up the maximum six points possible from these two games.

After suffering a disheartening 6-3 loss at the hands of Pep Guardiola's Premier League champions on Sunday, the Red Devils travel to Cyprus in the hopes that they can pull off their own victory on Thursday. Lennon will be hoping that his team can take advantage of the situation and win on their own.

United won their most recent match against Sheriff, which puts them just three points ahead of their hosts heading into tonight's game. This comes after United dropped their first game of the group at home by a score of 1-0 to Real Sociedad the week before. The last thing they need right now is for that gap to be cut to zero in advance of the return fixture which will take place the following week at Old Trafford.