Bodö/Glimt makes history: "European teams are dropping like flies"

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• FK Bodö/Glimt wrote Norwegian football history, eliminating the great Lazio Rome on penalties in the Europa League and advancing to the semi-finals.
• In Rome, with the score at 0:3, it looked as if the team would be eliminated in extra time, but Andreas Helmersen saved the team in the penalty shoot-out.
• "This team is made up of players who weren't that good up to a certain point, and then we became an incredibly good team," enthused coach Kjetil Knutsen.

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Shortly before midnight, there was no holding back in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. When a certain Nikita Haikin saved Lazio Rome's second penalty kick in the goal of the blatant underdogs FK Bodö/Glimt, the Norwegian football miracle was perfect. The small club, located north of the Arctic Circle, became the first football team from the winter sports nation to reach a European semi-final.

In their bright yellow shirts, the players leapt across the pitch in exuberance after the 3:2 penalty shoot-out victory. Afterwards, souvenir photos were taken for eternity in front of the small crowd of fans. "A great piece of Norwegian football history. The European teams are dropping like flies, and now only the imagination sets the limits," wrote the Norwegian newspaper "Aftenposten".

Europa League

Maguire turns crazy game ++ Bodø/Glimt knocks out Lazio ++ Tottenham and Bilbao advance

Home games on artificial turf

Bodö, a town of just 50,000 inhabitants north of the Arctic Circle, has now also made it onto the European football map. In the semi-finals of the Europa League, they now face Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, who defeated Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday. And the English team will have to dress warmly. The game will be played on artificial turf due to the cold. So much snow had fallen before the first leg against Rome that the pitch could only be cleared thanks to the efforts of many helpers.

Accordingly, the Aspmyra Stadium with its 8,270 seats is a huge advantage. 30 of the last 37 European Cup matches have been won there. Previous European Cup winners such as FC Porto, Red Star Belgrade and AS Roma have also experienced this before Lazio.

Goalkeeper soon to be a Norwegian citizen?

In Rome, however, pure willpower was required. At one point, with the score at 0:3, it looked as if the team had already been eliminated in extra time, but Andreas Helmersen saved the team from the penalty shoot-out. There, Haikin became the great hero. The 29-year-old was born in Israel, moved to Russia at a young age and then lived in England as a teenager. He already holds three different passports and could soon become a Norwegian citizen. He is in a relationship with a Norwegian Love Island participant.

"This team is built from players who weren't that good until a certain point, and then we became an incredibly good team," said coach Kjetil Knutsen, who has been coach in Bodö since 2018 and led the club to its first four championships in the past five years. "It's so damn great for Glimt and Norwegian football. If we can do it, others can do it too."

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