Apollon Limassol forward Andre Schembri has every belief the Cypriot side can spring a surprise at Everton on Thursday.

Apollon go into the Europa League Group E contest having drawn 1-1 at home with Lyon in their pool opener two weeks ago.

And Schembri, who at the start of this month played for Malta against England when three late goals wrapped up a 4-0 win for the Three Lions, said on Wednesday: "We have seen a lot of surprises in Europe, and I think, 'Why not?'

"We can make a surprise as well tomorrow. On paper we are the underdogs, but I believe in our team.

"We could see this against Lyon - and I believe we could have won that game. Tomorrow we are going there not just to play a game but to try to win points.

"Four weeks ago I played with my national team against England. Imagine England, full of stars, and our national team, with non-professionals, we kept them at bay (for a lot of the match).

"So tomorrow I think everything is possible. We are going to give our best and hopefully we will get a positive result."

Apollon's path to this group stage included a 3-2 victory on aggregate over Aberdeen in the third qualifying round.

Boss Sofronis Avgousti guided the club to their second successive Cypriot Cup triumph last term, and his side finished third in the top flight.

Tomorrow we are going there not just to play a game but to try to win points.- Andre Schembri

Avgousti said on Wednesday: "We will try to rise to the challenge. I really have faith in my players and this football club.

"We expect during the match to have a lot of pressure from Everton, but we will try to keep possession as much as we can.

"We know we have to deal with some very good footballers and we will try to keep them at bay, and if we manage to do that, maybe we will manage to create a few chances ourselves."

Everton put in a dismal display in their first Group E match as they lost 3-0 away against Atalanta.

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