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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 Champion 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.
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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.
“Of course we’re disappointed, we want to fight on every front and we tried our best but they were better than us.”
Historic win
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 to be 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.
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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.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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