Bodo Glimt’s dream run in this season’s Champions League may be over, but they bow out with heads held high having made history.
Playing their football in often freezing conditions in a town located just north of the Arctic circle, the Norwegians surprised many by reaching the knockout stage on their debut in the competition.
They claimed some impressive scalps along the way – beating Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in the league phase before winning both legs against last season’s finalists Inter Milan in the knockout play-offs.
But after winning their last-16 first leg match against Sporting 3-0 in Norway, the Portuguese side produced one of the great Champions League comebacks to win 5-0 at home and progress 5-3 on aggregate.
“We did not play the game, we played the occasion, and it became far too big for us,” said Bodo/Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen.
“Sporting CP went out there and didn’t care about anything, while we were thinking about the consequences from the very first touch.”
