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22nd July 2024
02:31pm BST
The Conference League qualifiers are a fascinating time of the yearly footballing calendar, with the potential for European giants to come up against minnows.
It happens every season without fail, somehow, somewhere.
This time around it is the Danish greats FC Copenhagen's turn to play against a 'pub team'.
A Gibraltarian pub team named Bruno's Magpies pulled off one of the greatest Conference League upsets, beating former Irish champions Derry City.
The pub side were founded only in 2013 by friends drinking in Bruno's Bar and pulled off a cup shock in spectacular fashion.
Going into the second leg in Ireland, the Magpies were already 2-0 up.
During the return match, Derry's Adam O'Reilly was then in fact sent off for two bookable offences just before half-time, boosting the Magpies' chances of victory.
Despite this, Derry brought back the deficit to 2-2 on aggregate, thereby forcing extra-time.
The Magpies needed a hero and Evan De Haro provided that all-important goal in the 111th minute to go back ahead and seal the deal.
Derry manager Ruaidhri Higgins couldn't believe his side's defeat, as he stated: "It's a real low point personally and for the club.
"It's a tie we should be winning. There's no point in saying otherwise. It's a tie we should be winning and it's poor.
"It's going to hurt badly probably for a long time internally, but we don't have too much time to dwell on it."
As for FC Copenhagen, they previously beat Manchester United dramatically in the Champions League and now face this potential obstacle in the Conference League.
