THE NORWEGIAN NIGHT IN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
“Norwegian night” in Champions League!
The past night became most glorious for Norwegian football in the entire history of the Champions League: while Alexander Sørloth exploded with a hat-trick in Madrid, Bodo/Glimt's made a historical feat in Milan.
Inter vs Bodo/Glimt 1-2 (agg 2-5)
*Bodo/Glimt became the first Norwegian team to progress in a knock-out stage tie in the Champions League since the competition's rebrand in 1992.
In European Cup era (1955-1992), the last Norwegian team to do so was Lillestrom (against Linfield in 1987-88, in the first round).
*The last Norwegian team to reach the UCL round of 16 was Rosenborg in 1999-00, who played in the round of 16 group stage.
Rosenborg were also among 16 best UCL clubs in 1995-96 and 1996-97 (when they reached the quarter-finals).
In each case of Rosenborg’s three, reaching the top 16 did not involve winning a knock-out tie.
*Bodø/Glimt are the first team from outside of Europe’s big five leagues to win 4 consecutive games in a European Cup/Champions League campaign against opponents from those leagues (also 3-1 vs Manchester City and 2-1 vs Atletico Madrid) since Ajax in 1971-72, who won the European Cup that season.
*For the third time, a Norwegian club won a European competition match on Italian soil, after:
Torino vs Lillestrøm on 29 September 1993,
Milan vs Rosenborg on 4 December 1996.
*Until last year, no Norwegian club had ever eliminated an Italian rival in a two-legged tie, but in the last 12 months, Bodo/Glimt has done it twice: vs Lazio in Europa League 2024-25 and now vs Inter.
*Considering all Nordic teams, there were 2 cases before when they knocked an Italian opponent out of the European Cup/Champions League. Both times it did Swedish teams against Inter:
Malmö in 1989-90 (first round),
Helsingborgs in 2000-01 (third qualifying round).
*Bodo/Glimt became the first team to win both legs against Inter in the knock-out stage of the Champions League since Schalke in the quarter-finals in 2010-11.
*Inter were eliminated in the knock-out stage of the Champions League (since 1992) by a team outside the top five European leagues for the first time.
*Inter Milan became the third defending UCL finalist to be eliminated before the round of 16, after:
Manchester United in 2011-12 (from runners-up to third in the group stage, behind Benfica and Basel),
Chelsea in 2012-13 (from champions to third in the group stage, behind Juventus and Shakhtar).
*Jens Petter Hauge has scored 6 goals for Bodø/Glimt in the UCL this season: the most by a Norwegian player for a Norwegian club in a single European Cup/Champions League campaign.