“We’re underway, Bodo very grateful to be in the playoff round, Inter rather disappointed”
The commentator’s opening line at kickoff summed it perfectly. As Inter Milan kicked off their UEFA Champions League playoff knockout tie in the freezing climes of Bodo, no one expected much from the home side, Bodo/Glimt.
Where Inter had started the league stage with four straight wins, dipped and then recovered to finish second, Bodo had been third from bottom with no wins when two wins from the remaining two games saw them squeeze into the knockout phase in 23rd (out of 24).
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Sure, their wins had come against Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, but the cynical mind could have played that off as two giants taking it lightly at the end of the league stage (that wasn’t the case, but you know how the cynical mind works…). This time, though, no one would be taking it easy. Inter, last season’s finalists, furious at having to play an extra knockout leg, would come to Norway and just blow aside the minnows.
What made it worse was how undercooked Bodo looked from the outside. With the Norwegian league done and dusted, and waiting for a tad more friendly weather to turn the calendar onto a new one, this would be Bodo’s third competitive match of 2026 (after those two remarkable wins). Inter, leading Serie A and in fine form, were at the opposite ends of the sharpness scale.
Sondre Brunstad Fet of Bodo/Glimt celebrates Photo by Martin Ole Wold/Getty Images
Or so you’d have thought.
As the clock ticked over to the 20th minute mark, Bodo showed just what they are capable of. It started innocuously enough, deep in midfield when Patrick Berg played one out to the left to Fredrik Bjorkan. The left back, instead of looking to keep it going on the flank, took a touch and immediately pinged the ball inside – increasing the urgency of the move with one pass. Hakon Evjen, having drifted forward from his deeper central midfield position, collected it while running parallel to the box, before stopping and reversing it to Kasper Hogh on the edge of the box.
Sensing danger, Alessandro Bastoni stuck tight to the big striker, but that was a mistake. To Hogh’s left, midfielder Sondre Brunstad Fet had made a run, unnoticed by everyone but his teammate. As Fet ghosted in, Hogh played a delicious, first-time, backheel flick right onto his path. Inter’s mean defence ripped open, Fet was one-on-one with Yann Sommer and made no mistake. A touch to set himself, and with the second he slammed it into the far corner.
Thomas Andersen / NTB / AFP via Getty Images) / Norway OUT
As a standalone goal, it had everything: the sudden switch in tempo that caught the defence off guard, the incessant movement and interchanging positions that left them befuddled, a moment of magic with the backheel and the clinical composure of an assured finish. Put it in context, though, taking into consideration who scored it, and against whom – it was a sensational reminder of the beauty of European Cup football.
Inter fought back to equalise ten minutes later, but the opener had given Bodo the belief that two-in-two could become three-in-three. They came out of the traps flying in the second half and goals from former AC Milan man Jens Petter Hauge (featured in this column recently) and Hogh sealed the deal for the minnows from the North.