Bodo/Glimt’s surprising Champions League victory against Inter Milan – a statistical overview
Bodo/Glimt achieved one of the most remarkable upsets in Champions League history on Wednesday by eliminating last year’s finalists Inter Milan, thereby securing a spot in the round of 16.
Their 2-1 victory at the San Siro resulted in a 5-2 aggregate success over the Serie A club. Bodo/Glimt has also triumphed over Manchester City and Atletico Madrid during this extraordinary campaign for a team from the Arctic Circle.
A stunned Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu remarked that the Norwegian champions had “demonstrated” their place among Europe’s elite, while Bodo/Glimt’s head coach referred to the outcome as “a historic moment for Bodo and I believe also for Norwegian football.”
Perhaps Inter should have been more aware of Bodo/Glimt’s capacity for giant-killing; Roma, Celtic, Besiktas, Porto, and Lazio have also fallen victim in recent years.
The statistics behind Bodo/Glimt’s Champions League success
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Bodo/Glimt has won their last four Champions League matches, defeating Manchester City, AtlΓ©tico, and Inter twice. They are the first Norwegian team to achieve four consecutive victories in the Champions League proper.
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Bodo/Glimt’s win against Inter has made them the first Norwegian club to ever win a tie in the Champions League knockout phase. They are the first overall in the European Cup since LillestrΓΈm in the first round in 1987-88 (against Linfield).
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Inter attempted 30 shots during the match, their highest in a Champions League game according to Opta records (since 2003-04).
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Transfermarkt estimates Bodo/Glimt’s entire squad at β¬57.13 million, while Inter’s squad is valued at β¬666.8 million.
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Bodo/Glimt is the first team from outside Europe’s top five leagues to win four consecutive matches in a European Cup season against teams from those leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France) since Ajax in 1971-72. Ajax won the European Cup that season.
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Bodo/Glimt’s victory over Inter represents the second-largest aggregate win by a team from outside Europe’s top five leagues against Italian opposition in the Champions League knockout stage. Shakhtar Donetsk’s aggregate win over Romaβ6-2 in 2010-11βis the largest. Bodo/Glimt’s 5-2 aggregate win matches Club Brugge’s result against Atalanta last season.
– Stunned Inter Milan say Bodo/Glimt ‘proved’ they belong
– Champions League knockout rounds: Bracket, key dates, more
– From the archive: The secret behind Bodo/Glimt’s red-hot European run
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Bodo/Glimt forward Jens Petter Hauge is enjoying an impressive season. He is the fourth Norwegian to score 6 or more goals in a single Champions League campaign, following Erling Haaland (6x), Tore AndrΓ© Flo (1999-00), and Ole Gunnar SolskjΓ¦r (2001-02). Hauge’s six goals are the highest by any player for a Norwegian club in a Champions League season.
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Hauge’s opening goal at the San Siro on Tuesday made him the first player from a Norwegian club to score in an away Champions League knockout stage match.
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Bodo/Glimt will compete against either Sporting CP or Manchester City in the next round, the latter of whom they defeated during the group stage. Prior to their 3-1 victory over City, the Opta supercomputer assigned Bodo/Glimt only a 0.3% chance of advancing to the round of 16.
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The population of the Norwegian town of Bodo is reported to be just over 42,000.
Information from ESPN’s Global Research contributed to this story
