OSLO: In the space of just over a month, three massive football names, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, and now Inter Milan, have fallen to Bodo/Glimt — a small Norwegian club based inside the Arctic Circle.

Having already beaten Inter at home 3-1, the Scandinavians edged the Italians 2-1 at the iconic San Siro on Tuesday to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

The victory over the three-time Champions League winners, who are sitting pretty atop Serie A, continued Bodo’s surprise tour de force in the competition.

“This is the greatest club achievement ever by a Norwegian team,” Norway coach Stale Solbakken told public broadcaster NRK.

Inter were expected to pummel their visitors in an attempt to turn the tie around. But Bodo/Glimt survived at the back before finishing off the tie in the second half.

Jens Petter Hauge, who played for AC Milan in 2020/21, gave his team the lead just before the hour mark after a mistake by Manuel Akanji had allowed Ole Blomberg in for an initial shot which was saved.

Hakon Evjen made it 2-0 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate, leaving Inter with too much to do, even if Alessandro Bastoni pulled one back with a shot that just crossed the line.

“We know there’s a lot of competitiveness in the Champions League. If teams get to this stage it means they have something,” Inter coach Cristian Chivu said. “And they have proved that. They showed it against Dortmund, against Madrid, against City, against us twice.

“It’s a team which has energy. We could have done better in Norway, we could have done better today, too, but unfortunately it didn’t go how we wanted. We gave everything to try to advance, that’s football.”

Bodo/Glimt, who had won four Norwegian Eliteserien titles in five years before finishing as runners-up last season to Viking Stavanger, are the first side from the country to go so far in Europe’s elite club competition since Rosenborg reached the quarter-finals in 1997.

“For us it’s been unbelievable. We knew it would be very hard against Inter who are a very strong team and played in the final last season,” said Hauge.

While their league season has been over since November, Bodo/Glimt have won all their European matches since the start of the year.

Bodo is a small coastal city with only 50,000 inhabitants north of the Arctic circle, which many would struggle to find on a map.

Their cramped and outdated Aspmyra Stadium — built in 1966 — can hold just over 8,200 spectators and the team came close to bankruptcy in 2016.

It is made up almost entirely of Norwegians and they have been working wonders since a return to the Eliteserien, Norway’s first division, in 2018.

Since then, they have been crowned national champions in four of the last six campaigns.

“It’s so important for football that Glimt are doing this, that in 2026 it’s still possible for a small club to build itself up from almost nothing,” Mads Skauge, vice-president of the club’s supporters’ group J-Feltet, told AFP.

“At a time when there is so much money in football, it’s truly unique. I can’t find any other example in modern history of a run as close to a fairytale as the one Glimt have had,” Skauge added.

Meanwhile at St James’ Park, Newcastle United followed their 6-1 win away to Qarabag in Azerbaijan in last week’s first leg with a 3-2 victory in the return, as Eddie Howe’s team ensured there will be six English clubs in the next round.

Sandro Tonali and Joelinton both scored inside the opening six minutes, leaving Qarabag facing another heavy defeat.

However, Camilo Duran pulled one back early in the second half. Sven Botman headed in Newcastle’s third, but Elvin Jafarguliyev made it 3-2 as he followed in to score after Marko Jankovic’s penalty was saved.

Newcastle can now look forward to a heavyweight tie in the next round against either Chelsea or Barcelona.

“I think if you look at the score over the two legs it’s been fantastic from the players even though today feels like a bit of a hollow win for us,” said Howe.

Earlier, Atletico had been held to a 3-3 draw by Club Brugge in Belgium last week but they ran out 4-1 winners in Tuesday’s return in the Spanish capital to advance 7-4 on aggregate.

Alexander Sorloth starred with a hat-trick, including the opener midway through the first half which came from a long kick downfield by goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Joel Ordonez headed the away side level before the break, but Johnny Cardoso restored Atletico’s lead just after the interval.

Sorloth scored his second and Atletico’s third on the night on 76 minutes after a brilliant one-two between Ademola Lookman and Antoine Griezmann.

Sorloth then completed his hat-trick to round out the scoring with his 15th of the season in all competitions.

Diego Simeone’s team will play either Tottenham Hotspur or Liverpool in the next round.

“I’m not thinking about Liverpool or Tottenham, I’m enjoying today’s game and being in the last 16 for another season is very important,” Simeone told broadcaster Movistar.

Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen followed a 2-0 win away to Olympiacos in Greece last week with a 0-0 draw at home in the return.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2026