Europa Conference League shock as PUB TEAM progress after knocking out former league champions
QUALIFYING for the Europa and Europa Conference League pulled out some major shocks.
The competitions does not start until September 25/26 and October 3 respectively.
However, with 236 clubs from 54 Uefa member countries across the two competitions and the Champions League, there are clubs from all walks of life trying to earn their spot.
Clubs from as far east as Astana and as far west as Iceland all face off in the hopes of making the group stages.
Thursday saw the second legs for the first qualifying round for the Europa League and Conference League completed.
And this pulled up some huge shocks on the cards that one might only expect in a fairytale.
One stunning result saw Bruno’s Magpies – a team founded in 2013 by friends drinking at a PUB called Bruno’s bar – beat former Irish champions Derry City.
Following a 2-0 defeat at the Magpies’ 5,000-capacity Victoria Stadium a week earlier, Derry hosted the second leg at the Brandywell.
Goals from Mark Connelly and Pat Hoban before half-time looked set to put them on the path of qualification.
But they were unable to find the all-important third before Evan De Haro fired home a rebounded strike from a long-range effort in extra-time to secure a stunning win for the Magpies.
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This has set up a huge tie against Champions League regulars FC Copenhagen – the former club of Manchester United stars Rasmus Hojlund and Amad Diallo – to be played over the next two weeks.
The game saw Andorran ref Antoine Paul Chiaramonti disallow a goal from Pat Hobans before also issuing a red card to Candystripes star Adam O’Reilly.
On the defeat, Derry manager Ruaidhri Higgins said: “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.”
Elsewhere in Europe, there were some blockbuster wins.
La Fiorita, a San Marino team from the village of Montegiardino with less than 1,000 people, beat Belarusian side Isloch.
There were wins for second-tier clubs from Poland, Wisła Kraków, and Romania, Cornivul, as well as a Moldovan club, Milsami Orhei, whose owner is alleged to have stolen $1billion.
There is a chance, albeit a slim one, that Chelsea face one of these teams.
After being knocked into the competition following Manchester United’s FA Cup win, the Blues are entering the play-off round to be played on August 22 and 29.