The Norwegian team of no stars with a tiny budget have moved onto the last 16 of the world’s biggest club competition.
Bodo/Glimt are on the march in the UEFA Champions League after dumping out European giants Inter Milan – the latest chapter in a remarkable rise for the tiny club from north of the Arctic Circle.
Kjetil Knutsen’s team reached the last 16 of the biggest club competition on the planet on Tuesday, thanks to their two wins over last year’s runners-up – a 5-2 aggregate victory giving them the greatest result in their history.
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The team from the Arctic Circle have been the fairytale story of this season’s competition.
“It has been a journey. There is a large group of us who have been part of it. There are unbelievably many people behind this who have such strong belief in the project,” Knutsen said to TV2.
“I think it’s an amazing evening for the club, for the players, for the town and also for Norwegian football,” added Knutsen, who has been in charge of Bodo/Glimt since 2018.
“We are not talking about goals, we are talking about how to perform and how we can take steps and develop the players and the team. Now I think that’s extremely important.
“We have our way to do it, and that’s really important.”
The latest triumph was their fourth straight win in the Champions League, with Manchester City and Atletico Madrid also falling in the final two league phase matches, which allowed Bodo/Glimt to snatch a spot in the knockout playoffs.
Bodo/Glimt were only promoted to Norway’s top tier, a competition which had been dominated for three decades by Rosenborg of Trondheim, in 2017, but have since been crowned national champions in four of the last six seasons.
And since then, they have slowly risen up the domestic and European ranks, last season becoming the first Norwegian team to play in the semifinals of a major European competition with their run to the last four of the Europa League.
Before this season, their best result was beating Lazio on penalties in the quarterfinals of the Europa League before being eliminated by Tottenham Hotspur.
But now, the team of no stars with a tiny budget have moved to a whole new level with one of either City or Sporting of Portugal awaiting next month.
‘Surreal and insanely cool’
Bodo/Glimt had previously been considered tricky opposition due to their artificial pitch and the frequently frigid conditions at their 8,200-capacity Aspmyra Stadium.
But they have now added strong away performances to their armoury, with a solid defensive display on Tuesday allowing Jens Petter Hauge and Hakon Evjen to dish out two sucker punches.
“Look at that amazing group. It’s surreal and insanely cool, I don’t know what to say,” Evjen said after the match, while team captain Patrick Berg added that it was “the biggest thing I’ve experienced in the course of my career”.
It was a rude awakening for three-time winners Inter, whose stature and budget dwarf that of the Norwegians and who are heavy favourites to win Serie A this season.
A pasting at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain might have coloured their last European campaign, but Inter got to that final by seeing off Bayern Munich and Barcelona in epic knockout ties.
Inter had much the better in the first half, but once Hauge capitalised on Manuel Akanji inexplicably giving the ball away on the edge of his area, there was no way back for the Italians.
“We know that the Champions League is very competitive; if a team reaches this stage of the competition, that means that they are offering something,” said Inter coach Cristian Chivu.
“They showed that in Dortmund, Madrid, against City and twice against us.”
Defeat to Bodo/Glimt was also symbolic after Norway swatted Italy aside twice in World Cup qualifying.
Italy face the prospect of no team reaching the last 16 with Juventus and Atalanta trailing Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund, the latest blow to the reputation of a grand old footballing nation which has since fallen on hard times.