Omonia head coach Neil Lennon was ‘surprised’ that his side were able to score twice against Manchester United in the Europa League.
Omonia coach neil lennon He has said that he ‘didn’t expect’ his team to score two goals against manchester united in the European League Thursday night.
Firmly against the current of the game, Karim Ansarifard put the Cypriot team ahead against the 20-time English champions in the 34th minute of the contest.
Marco Rashford scored twice and also set up antonio martial in the second half, when Man United turned the game around, but Omonia found the back of the net a second time in the 85th minute through Nicholas Panagiotou.
Lennon has said that the home team had to ‘ride their luck’, with Man United having 27 attempts on goal and missing several chances throughout the match.
However, the Scot is confident his side can cause the Red Devils trouble in the second leg at Old Trafford next week after identifying some “weaknesses”.
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“We were lucky a lot of times, staying in the game with good goalkeepers and a lot of missed chances from Man Utd. I didn’t expect us to score two goals!” Lennon told him bt sport.
“It’s going to be a different game at Old Trafford, but we’ve seen them up close and we know what their weaknesses are. We’ll go there and give everything we’ve got.”
Lennon also said that “some of the players” would regret remembering the game, with Bruno wasting an excellent opportunity in the second half of the contest.
“Some of the players will, yes (they will regret it). The first two goals we were too open in the middle half and then Bruno misses the opportunity with the lob. There were things we could have done better with holding the ball. The abyss the team was among them, but I’m delighted with two goals”, he added.
Omonia are bottom of Group E, having lost all three of their games in the section to Sheriff Tiraspol, Real Sociedad and now Man United.
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The Cypriot side will travel to Old Trafford, host Real Sociedad and visit Sheriff in their last three group games, and mathematically they can still qualify for the next round.
Omonia have won their last two league matches against Enosis and Doxa, but currently sit fourth in their domestic table, collecting nine points from five matches.
Lennon has been in charge of the club since March 2022 and led them to the Cyprus Cup last season.
The 51-year-old spent two seasons in charge of Scottish giants Celtic, while also managing Bolton Wanderers and Hibernian since retiring as a player in 2008.