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Bodø/Glimt’s impressive run in the UEFA Champions League continues.
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Sporting CP lost 3-0.
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The second leg in Portugal will be crucial.
Bodø/Glimt, considered the underdog in the Champions League, achieved another victory on Wednesday.
The Norwegian team secured a 3-0 win against Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of their round-of-16 match at the small Aspmyra Stadium.
Sporting struggled as many other favored teams have when visiting the Arctic Circle this year.
Earlier this season, Manchester City and Inter Milan also faced defeats, each losing 3-1 on Bodø/Glimt’s artificial turf. The team entered the tournament with doubts about their chances of reaching the knockout stage, but they have now won five consecutive matches in the Champions League.
Remarkably, these wins came during Norway’s offseason, as the domestic league does not begin until this weekend.
Sondre Brunstad Fet opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the 32nd minute, fooling goalkeeper Rui Silva, who dove in the wrong direction.
Ole Blomberg scored the second goal in first-half stoppage time, capitalizing on a loose ball.
Kasper Høgh added a third goal in the 71st minute, finishing a low cross from Jens Petter Hauge. This marked Høgh’s fifth goal during the team’s winning streak.
Interestingly, none of the goal scorers have played for their national teams. Fet, at 29, and 25-year-old Blomberg have not been selected for Norway, which is heading to its first World Cup in years. Høgh has also not been picked for Denmark, which is in a World Cup qualifying playoff this month.
If they progress to the quarterfinals, Bodø/Glimt would be a remarkable contender. The last team to achieve such a feat was APOEL from Cyprus in 2012, who were eliminated by Real Madrid.
The winner of the upcoming match in Lisbon next Tuesday will face either Arsenal or Bayer Leverkusen, who drew 1-1 in their first leg on Wednesday.
The entire population of Bodø, only 55,000, could fit into Arsenal’s stadium.