A team founded in a local Gibraltar bar have caused a stir in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers by causing a major upset, and could now even end up playing Chelsea in next season’s competition.
Bruno’s Magpies were formed in 2013 by a group of friends who drank at Bruno’s bar in Gibraltar, and are they are celebrating their biggest victory in their history.
Thursday night saw the Magpies take a 2-0 lead into the second leg of their first round UEFA Conference League qualifier with former Irish champions Derry City.
Derry quickly levelled the tie at their Brandywell home through first half goals from Mark Connelly and Pat Hoban and looked to be setting themselves up for qualification for the next round.
However, Derry were unable to find a third goal, allowing Evan De Haro to become the Magpies hero by netting a winner in extra time to secure a major victory.
The players from Brunos Magpies celebrate their shock European victory over Derry City
Evan De Haro was the Magpies hero as he scored an extra time winner to secure the victory
The Magpies have set up a tie against FC Copenhagen in the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League
The win now means that the Magpies will face Champions League regulars FC Copenhagen in the next round, and in the event they pulled off an ever bigger shock, could end up in the same draw as Chelsea further down the line.
The Blues qualified for the Europa Conference League through their Premier League position, after Man United’s FA Cup win, and will enter the competition at the play-off stage.
The 3-2 win for the side from Gibraltar, also saw the Andorran ref Antoine Paul Chiaramonti dish out a red card to Derry’s Adam O’Reilly and disallow a Pat Hobans goal.
Chelsea will compete in the Europa Conference League this season and enter at the play off stage of the competition
Following the defeat the Candystripes manager Ruaidhri Higgins shared his disappointment on crashing out of Europe at such an early stage.
‘It’s a real low point personally and for the club.’ Higgins said.
‘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.’