Brilliant Bodo/Glimt took European football by storm on Tuesday night, as they dumped the mighty Inter Milan out of the 2025-26 Champions League.
After beating I Nerazzurri 3-1 in Norway, in front of 7,800 fans, the minnows went to the San Siro and conquered the Serie A leaders, ending up 5-2 victors on aggregate. After putting the Italians to the sword on their home turf, the Norwegians defended bravely against a star-studded side roared on by 70,000 fans. Inter dominated possession and rained 30 goals down on the Bodo goal, but the shots on target tally finished at seven to five, and Kjetil Knutsen’s men made their count.
As the hour mark approached, a slip by Manuel Akanji was punished by Jens Petter Hauge, and when Hakon Evjen doubled the lead with a superb strike, it was game over for the hosts. Alessandro Bastoni pulled one back for Inter, but it was nothing more than a consolation for the 2025 Champions League runners-up.
This is Bodo/Glimt’s first-ever appearance in the Champions League after finishing second in the Eliteserien last term, and they beat Sturm Graz in a qualifying play-off to take part in the group league stage. Once they had found their feet, Bodo/Glimt won their last two games, including a victory over Manchester City, to make the play-offs. And now they have four wins in a row to become the first Norwegian side to reach the Champions League Round of 16 since Rosenborg in 1999-2000.
Next, they will play either Sporting Lisbon or Manchester City, and manager Knutsen was full of pride after the triumph in Milan, saying, “Can you believe it? A team from a small town up north, it’s unbelievable. I don’t think we were good in the first half, but we defended well. When we scored the second goal, we controlled the game. The players are amazing, they believed, and they worked hard.”
In other Champions League 2026 news, Atletico Madrid at home to Club Brugge was tied at 3-3 after an entertaining first leg in Belgium, but Los Rojiblancos had little problem in seeing through the tie with a convincing 4-1 win at the Wanda Metropolitano. The in-form Alexander Sorloth scored a hat-trick to take his tally to five for the competition.
Newcastle United’s tie with Qarabag was done and dusted when the Geordies won 6-1 in Azerbaijan, and the second leg in Newcastle was an exhibition as the hosts raced into a two-goal lead after just six minutes. While the visitors fought back in the second, Eddie Howe’s team ran out 3-2 winners on the night and 9-3 on aggregate. Elsewhere on Tuesday, Bayer Leverkusen drew 0-0 with Olympiacos to win that tie 2-0 on aggregate.
Heartbreak for the Old Lady
Juventus had a mountain to climb when they kicked off their second leg against Galatasaray in Turin, but they dragged the score back to 5-5 before losing it in extra time.
Manuel Locatelli pulled one back before the halftime break from the penalty spot to make it interesting, but when Lloyd Kelly saw red at the start of the second half, I Bianconeri’s task got harder. Galatasaray were edgy, and the tension reached fever pitch when Federico Gatti made it 2-0 on the night, and the roof came off the Juventus Stadium when Weston McKennie headed home the third.
But former Napoli striker Victor Osimhen came back to haunt the Old Lady when he struck in extra time. And while the Italians’ chins were on the floor, Baris Yilmaz struck to see Galatasaray through 7-5 on aggregate.
The SBOTOP Champions League 2026 betting odds pitched both PSG and Real Madrid as likely quarter-finalists, and they both made it through in relative comfort.
PSG took a 3-2 lead away from Monaco, but Maghnes Akliouche levelled the tie on the stroke of halftime. The wheels came off for Monaco in the second half, though, in two dramatic minutes. First, Mamadou Coulibaly was red-carded for a bad foul, and from the resulting free-kick, Marquinhos slotted home. And midway through the half, the game was up when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia made it 2-1 on the night. Jordan Teze gave Monaco a glimmer of hope in the 91st minute, but it was not to be.
After Real Madrid took a 1-0 lead away from Benfica back at the Estádio da Luz, Rafa levelled the tie on 14 minutes, but Aurelien Tchouameni fired Los Blancos ahead two minutes later. Vinicius Junior made it 3-1 (on aggregate) late in the game to take Los Blancos through.
There was plenty of drama in Bergamo, where Atalanta turned round a two-goal deficit to beat Borussia Dortmund 4-3 on aggregate. Trailing 2-0 after the first leg, La Dea raced into a three-goal lead before Karim Adeyemi scored on 75 minutes to make it 3-3.
It looked like we were heading to extra time until the game exploded in the 94th minute. Ramy Bensebaini looked to have fouled Nikola Krstovic in the penalty area, and VAR confirmed the penalty. Bensebaini was red-carded and so was Nico Schlotterbeck, before Lazar Samardzic smashed the spot kick home to spark mayhem in the stands.
BVB have Der Klassiker to look forward to on Saturday, and they need to pick themselves up quickly, but the celebrations in Bergamo went on well into the night.
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