Manchester United star Juan Mata has thrown his support behind the Belfast Ravens women's football team.
The Ravens are preparing to make their competitive bow after being accepted into the Northern Ireland Women's Football Association .
They will enter the newly structured league in Division 4, with games kicking off on April.
And they will have a Red Devil in their corner.
Mata sent a good luck video message after Ravens defender Clara Alonso highlighted the Belfast club to the Spanish World Cup winner.
"Juan he grew up in Oviedo, which is where I am from," Clara explained.
"His mum is my cousin's wife's best friend, so that's where the connection came from.
"I got chatting to my cousin one day about the Ravens, telling her the whole story behind the team. When she mentioned that she personally knew Juan I told her how my football club was joining the league for the first time, and that Juan was my coach's favourite player.
"She then promised me that if I filmed a video explaining who the Ravens are etc that she would get him to WhatsApp a video wishing us good luck - and they did just that!"
In the video, Mata says: "Hello, this is Juan and I would like to wish all the best to the Belfast Ravens on their first season in the Northern Ireland female league. So, all the best and I hope you do great, and the best of luck."
Clara says she kept the video a secret until finally revealing it to her teammates last night.
"With the help of our captain Maria, I told them all that the video I was doing was going to be a surprise article for my local newspaper," Clara added.
"I had them holding the Asturian flag and filmed them doing gym training, football training etc
"I sent the video to my cousin who passed it onto Juan via WhatsApp."
The Belfast Ravens manager is David O'Reilly, better known as radio DJ Rigsy.
Not only is he a massive Manchester United fan, but he loves Juan Mata.
"We've been planning to show this to Rigsy and the team for two weeks, but between one thing and another we couldn't do it until yesterday," Clara said.
"It was hard to keep the secret. I have been buzzing about it since January when the whole thing started!"
Rigsy said the video was a "massive surprise".
He added: "It is brilliant having someone like Juan Mata send the club this message, and fair play to Clara for organising it. It's amazing!
"Everyone is really made up with the video."
The Belfast Ravens were founded by Lisa Sykes in the summer of 2017 in a bid to inspire more female beginners to take up football.
The idea of forming the club was hatched by a group of friends after they played in a charity tournament.
Now they're closing in on their competitive debut, with Manchester United star Mata in their corner.
"We can't wait for the season to start. It is a very exciting time for the club," Rigsy added.
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