Norwegian minnows Bodo/Glimt aiming to write another glorious chapter into their Champions League fairytale

The achievements of  Champions League  debutants Bodo/Glimt in this season’s competition have already been beyond their wildest dreams.

The Norwegian minnows famously beat Manchester City and Atletico Madrid before dumping out Serie A leaders Inter Milan in the play-offs.

Now Kjetil Knutsen’s upstarts face a Last-16 tie against Portuguese giants Sporting Club as they bid to reach the quarter-finals of European football’s premier competition.

From no-hopers to shock contenders

Bodo/Glimt began their maiden Champions League campaign in September and failed to win any of their first six league-phase games.

That was not entirely unexpected from a team based in a small fishing town with a population of just 45,000 in Norway’s frozen Arctic Circle.

That said, Kjetil Knutsen’s men showed they were no pushovers after drawing 2-2 at Slavia Prague on Matchday 1 and then holding Tottenham Hotspur to the same scoreline a fortnight later.

Let it be remembered that Bodo, while new to the Champions League, won four of the past six domestic championships in Norway and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League last season.

That was the furthest a Norwegian team have ever gone in a European competition.

After their opening two draws in the Champions League came three successive defeats at the hands of Galatasaray, Monaco and Juventus before another 2-2 draw, this time at Borussia Dortmund.

At this stage, Bodo looked destined to be heading out of the competition as one of the bottom 12 teams.

But the visit of Manchester City in the penultimate round of the league phase changed everything.

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One of the greatest upsets in Champions League history

On January 20, Pep Guardiola’s star-studded side were thumped 3-1 in the -9C temperatures of the Arctic Circle at the Aspmyra Stadium, which has an artificial pitch and a capacity of just 8,000.

Kasper Hogh scored two superb goals and could have had a hat-trick before the half-hour mark after being denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Erling Haaland looked out of sorts in his homeland and, after the break, Jens Petter Hauge’s brilliant individual goal put the hosts in dreamland.

Rayan Cherki pulled a goal back, but City were reduced to 10 men as Rodri received his second yellow card and Bodo ran out worthy victors.

The result sent shockwaves across Europe but the fairytale was only just beginning for a team who have not played a domestic game since November.

On Matchday 8, Knutsen’s men – made up largely of players from the region – went to Atletico Madrid and won 2-1 with goals from defender Fredrik Sjovold and Hogh again.

The result marked a first away win in the Champions League for the Norwegians and secured 23rd place in the league phase to set up a play-off against Inter Milan.

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“A historical moment for Bodo and for Norwegian football”

Few gave Bodo much chance of upsetting the odds in their two-legged play-off tie against Inter.

In the first leg, Sondre Fet opened the scoring for the hosts before Francesco Pio Esposito made it 1-1 at the break.

But Jens Petter Hauge and Hogh struck second-half goals to beat an Inter side who were eight points clear at the top of Serie A and have been Champions League finalists in two of the past three seasons.

Once again, the result reverberated far and wide, but the second leg in Milan was still to come.

Incredibly, Bodo defied the odds by winning 2-1 through Jens Petter Hauge, who scored his sixth goal in the competition this season for the opener before creating Hakon Evjen’s delightful second.

That sealed an amazing 5-2 aggregate success and marked their fourth successive win in the Champions League, setting up a Last-16 tie with Sporting Club.

Bodo became the first Norwegian side to progress in a knockout-stage tie in the Champions League and the first overall in the European Cup since Lillestrom in the first round in 1987-88.

Knutsen, whose work has earned him many admirers and seen him linked with Celtic, said afterwards: “It is a historical moment for Bodo and I think also for Norwegian football. 

“I am so proud, we are a team from a small town. I really hope we show that if we can do it, then everyone can do it. For me, that’s the most beautiful thing of the whole story.”

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Could they do it again?

Bodo will look to make home advantage pay when Portuguese giants Sporting CP visit in the first leg of their Last-16 tie on Wednesday.

Sporting lie second in the Primeira Liga and will be favourites to progress – but only a fool would write off Bodo’s chances of another shock.

They have proved formidable on their home soil and won at Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan in their last two away games.

Regardless of the outcome of their Last-16 tie with Sporting, it has already been a season of such emotion for Knutsen, his players and the inhabitants of this small Norwegian outpost.

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Watch the Champions League on DAZN

Every Champions League match this season can be watched on DAZN in Canada and New Zealand. 

For US soccer fans watch Atletico Madrid vs. Tottenham, and Real Madrid vs. Manchester City in the Last 16 exclusively on DAZN, in Spanish language.