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THURSDAY | FEB 26, 2026

Malaysian Paper

B ODO/GLIMT are on the march in the Champions League after dumping out European giants Inter Milan, the latest chap ter in a remarkable rise for the tiny club from north of the Arctic Circle. Kjetil Knutsen’s team reached the last 16 of the big gest club competition on the planet with two wins over last year’s beaten finalists – a 5-2 aggregate vic tory giving them the greatest result in their history. “I think it’s an amazing evening for the club, for the players, for the town and also for Norwegian football,” said 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 entire journey here should have been close to impossible. There are of course all sorts of lessons that can be taken from the Bodo/Glimt victory, especially as Hauge spoke about being “so proud of the group, the medical staff, we are all in this together”. Unlike so many other upstarts over the years, the club’s success hasn’t yet seen them been termi nally asset-stripped in the way even a historic giant like Ajax have. Even those players that briefly went away, like Hauge, returned. Some put that down to the distinctiveness of this team. They do keep regenerat ing, and growing. For three-time winners Inter, it was a rude awak ening, 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 inexpli cably 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

Yesterday’s triumph was their fourth straight win in the Champions League, with Manchester City and Atletico Madrid also fal ling in the final two

Giant killers The Norwegian minnows Bodo/Glimt continue remarkable rise with Inter triumph to reach Champions League last 16 but footballing authorities must now heed a warning

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. – AFP/The Independent

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. Bodo/Glimt had previously been considered tricky opposition due to their artificial pitch and the fre quently frigid conditions at their 8,200-capacity Aspmyra Stadium. But they have now added strong away perform ances to their armoury, with a solid defensive display yesterday allowing Jens Petter Hauge and Hakon Evjen to dish out two sucker punches. “I always look forward, so that’s how we’re think ing. For me, history is not so important,” added Knutsen. After the San Siro had been silenced, long before the end, Hauge had a fittingly suitable summation of it all. “It sounds not true,” the forward beamed. “Can you believe it, a small team from the north?” There were so many different individual elements to this that just kept increasing the odds, to the point

Brilliant Brook

Story on page 27

Bodo/Glimt’s Hakon Evjen (left) in action with Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni during their Champions League knockout phase, 2nd leg match yesterday at San Siro in Milan, Italy. – REUTERSPIC

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