Tag: Bodo/Glimt

Bodo/Glimt completed the greatest achievement in the Norwegian minnows’ history on Tuesday by winning 2-1 at Inter Milan and reaching the last 16 of the Champions League, 5-2 on aggregate.

Leading 3-1 from last week’s first leg in the Arctic Circle, goals in the second half from former AC Milan forward Jens Petter Hauge and Hakon Evjen stunned the San Siro and set up a tie with either Manchester City or Sporting of Portugal in the next round.

“For us it’s been unbelievable, we knew it would be very hard against Inter, who are a very strong team and played in the final last season,” said Hauge.

“I have faith in this project, and we’re showing it in the Champions League.”

More than 3,000 fans travelled to Milan to watch their team continue a remarkable debut season in Europe’s elite club competition, a huge number for a club from a city with a population of around 50,000.

There were 20,000 more people at the San Siro than live in Bodo on Tuesday night, and the vast majority left disappointed after Inter, who scored late through Alessandro Bastoni, failed to mount the comeback coach Cristian Chivu believed could happen.

Inter’s elimination was another blow for Italian football on the European stage, with all four Serie A clubs likely to be out of the Champions League come Thursday.

Juventus and Atalanta trail Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund, respectively, with few giving either much of a chance of getting through ahead of their matches on Wednesday.

“The hardest thing to do today was to open the scoring, and we weren’t able to do it. You can only congratulate them, they beat us twice, so they deserved to go through,” said Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella.

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“Of course, we’re disappointed, we want to fight on every front, and we tried our best, but they were better than us.”

But it was a historic night for Bodo/Glimt, who have been crowned Norwegian champions in four of the last six seasons and will be a tough test for whoever they face next month.

Inter were, as expected, on the front foot from the off, and Pio Esposito headed over a great chance in the third minute from a Federico Dimarco cross.

Dimarco had a fizzing inswinger tipped over the bar by Nikita Haikin while Marcus Thuram watched on as his powerful long-range effort was deflected just over the bar.

But as the match wore on, a pattern emerged of Inter bluntly attacking down the flanks and putting in crosses that were comfortably dealt with by Bodo/Glimt’s defenders.

Hauge pounced in the 58th minute following a confused passage of play in which Inter defender Manuel Akanji, who had only moments before returned to the pitch following treatment for a cut eyebrow, gifted the ball to Ole Didrik Blomberg on the edge of the box.

Blomberg failed to score one-on-one with Yann Sommer, but Hauge was on hand to tuck in the rebound for his sixth goal in the Champions League to send the away fans delirious.

Akanji hit the post 10 minutes later, but Evjen made absolutely sure of Bodo/Glimt’s passage in the 72nd minute when he expertly lashed home Hauge’s searching pass into the box.

Bastoni forced the ball over the line shortly afterwards, but it mattered little for Inter, who are left with trying to secure the Serie A title, which looks likely due to a 10-point lead over local rivals Milan.

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Bodo/Glimt continued their remarkable debut Champions League campaign with a 3-1 victory over Inter Milan in the knockout play-off round first leg on Wednesday, as Kasper Hogh scored once and created two other goals.

The Norwegians only snuck into the knock-out stage with shock victories over Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in their final two league-phase matches.

Kjetil Knutsen’s men backed up those performances by adding last season’s runners-up Inter to their list of scalps.

Cristian Chivu’s Serie A leaders will still be confident of turning the tie around in the second leg at the San Siro next Tuesday, despite struggling on the artificial pitch of the Aspmyra Stadion in northern Norway.

“(Bodo/Glimt) are more accustomed to this pitch, that’s not an excuse,” Chivu said.

“The tie is wide open, there’s the return leg to come. We knew they are a team that can hurt you on the break, now we’ll try to advance to the next round at San Siro.”

To make matters worse for Inter, captain Lautaro Martinez hobbled off and was replaced by Marcus Thuram in the second half.

“I think he’s hurt and he will be out for a while,” Chivu said of Martinez.

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Bodo/Glimt, Europa League semi-finalists last term, have given themselves a chance of securing a major surprise, and a last-16 meeting with either Man City or Sporting Lisbon.

The hosts took a 20th-minute lead with a fine team goal, finished off with aplomb by Sondre Brunstad Fet after he latched onto Hogh’s clever flick inside the area.

But Bodo could not keep their advantage for long as Inter youngster Pio Esposito swivelled inside the box and fired home on the half-hour mark, with the goal surviving a lengthy VAR review for handball.

Inter almost scored in the first minute after the restart when Martinez’s instinctive close-range shot bobbled off the post.

The Norwegians moved back in front in the 61st minute as they caught Inter short at the back, and Jens Petter Hauge rifled the ball into the roof of the net after being teed up by Hogh.

Bodo’s third goal arrived just three minutes later, as Patrick Berg put Ole Didrik Blomberg through on goal with a cute dinked pass, and he squared it for Hogh to tap into an empty net.

Danish striker Hogh has now scored four goals in his last three Champions League appearances following a double against Man City and the winner to defeat Atletico.

Inter pushed to cut the deficit, but Carlos Augusto’s blocked shot from eight yards out was the closest they came despite some late pressure.

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