The San Siro provided the setting for the Winter Olympics' opening ceremony earlier this month, and the wintry theme continued here with Bodo - from deep inside the Arctic Circle - in the driving seat ahead of kick-off. Inter’s task at hand was monumental given they had previously never won a UCL knockout game by three clear goals - exactly what was required here.
Nevertheless, the runaway Serie A leaders almost got off to a flying start inside three minutes when Federico Dimarco’s lofted ball into the box was headed narrowly over the bar by Sebastiano Esposito.
It was one-way traffic for large parts of the first half as Davide Frattesi had a header saved, before Dimarco’s zipping effort from just inside the 18-yard box was tipped over the bar by Nikita Haikin.
From the resulting corner, Frattesi’s near-post header was cleared off the line, before the midfielder saw another chance denied by a last-gasp intervention - this time, his header was palmed away by an exceptional diving save from Haikin.
Meanwhile, it took until the 36th minute for the visitors to create their first chance of the contest, and it was a warning for the hosts as Yann Sommer was left scrambling to claw away Hakon Evjen’s header.
Inter resumed control following the interval but, as the hour mark approached, the Norwegians stunned their hosts.
Manuel Akanji’s lack of focus in possession saw the Swiss centre-back give the ball away to Ole Blomberg, whose shot was parried into the path of Jens Petter Hauge for a simple finish to silence the Nerrazzurri faithful.
Akanji almost made up for his blunder, but was denied by the woodwork after he swept the ball onto the left post from Dimarco’s cutback in the box.
Ultimately, though, any real hopes of a comeback were eradicated in the 72nd minute when Hauge played an exceptional ball through the Inter defence for Evjen, who took a touch to compose himself before firing past Sommer.
While Inter quickly pulled a goal back through Alessandro Bastoni’s close-range finish, it proved to be too little, too late.
In the end, Bodo kept their composure to coast through the remaining minutes with little danger.
Incredibly, the club had never won a UCL match before January, but a fourth successive victory in the competition sees them enter Friday’s draw for the round of 16.
Inter on the other hand, have failed to reach the last 16 for the first time since 2020/21, although a league and Coppa Italia double remains well within their sights.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jens Petter Hauge (Bodo/Glimt)
Check out the match stats here.
