Bodo/Glimt knock out Inter Milan to reach Champions League last 16

Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt have produced one of the greatest shocks in Champions League history by knocking out Inter Milan to reach the last 16.

Kjetil Knutsen’s side claimed a remarkable 5-2 aggregate victory over last season’s finalists following a historic night at the San Siro.

It marks the continuation of a fairytale rise for a club operating on a fraction of the budget of Europe’s elite.

Arctic minnows make history

The result is all the more extraordinary given the Norwegian top flight concluded in November due to the severe winter climate.

Despite being in their off-season, the club from the Arctic Circle have now defeated Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and the Serie A leaders during this European campaign.

Based in a town with a population of just 55,000, the visitors were playing in Norway’s second tier as recently as 2017.

They have now become the northernmost team to ever compete in the latter stages of Europe’s premier club competition.

Silencing the San Siro

Carrying a 3-1 lead from the first leg at the Aspmyra Stadion, the tournament debutants withstood heavy early pressure in Milan.

Jens Petter Hauge eventually punished a mistake by Manuel Akanji to extend the aggregate advantage and silence the home crowd.

Hakon Evjen added a second goal on the counter-attack to leave the three-time European champions with an insurmountable mountain to climb.

Alessandro Bastoni pulled a goal back for the hosts, but it was a mere consolation on a disastrous night for Italian football.

Statistical brilliance

This victory makes Knutsen’s men the first Norwegian team to win a Champions League knockout tie since the 1987-88 season.

They also emulated Johan Cruyff’s legendary Ajax side of 1972 by becoming the first team outside the ‘big five’ leagues to win four consecutive games against elite opposition.

Ajax went on to win the European Cup that season, a precedent the Norwegian minnows will dream of following.