Overview
As the biggest surprise phenomenon of European football this season, Bodo/Glimt created a fever in their first official appearance in the Champions League, with a journey witnessing a series of spectacular defeats against big teams.
The Norwegian team made a strong breakthrough in the final stage of the group stage to win a play-off spot, when they were undefeated in the last 3 matches. They successively drew 2-2 with Borussia Dortmund away from home, before causing an earthquake with victories against Manchester City (3-1) and Atletico Madrid (2-1), thereby rising to 23rd place in the 36-team standings.
In the play-off round, after a 3-1 victory in the first leg at Aspmyra stadium, Kjetil Knutsen's team continued to show their bravery in the second leg at San Siro. Goals in the second half from Jens Petter Hauge and Hakon Evjen helped them defeat Inter 2-1, despite Alessandro Bastoni's late goal to narrow the score.
Thanks to that, Glimt became the first Norwegian club to win 4 consecutive matches in the Champions League, and also the first team of this country to win in the knockout round of the tournament. With those historical milestones, the Scandinavian representative has every reason to believe in continuing their miraculous journey.
The yellow-black team can also be confident before the first leg of the round of 16 thanks to their impressive form at the Aspmyra stadium, where they have won 12 of their last 17 matches in the European arena (1 draw, 4 losses).
Glimt entered the midweek match with excitement after a 2-1 victory over Molde in the Norwegian Cup last week. They won a ticket to the quarter-finals and extended their unbeaten streak to 9 matches in all competitions, of which the last 7 matches were all wins.
This result also opens up the opportunity to win domestic titles for the team that was once the Elite Series champion, but lost the 2025 season championship to Viking with only one point less. Not having to play at the weekend also helps Knutsen's team enter the match in good physical condition.
Meanwhile, Sporting Lisbon took the field later than their opponent when they only drew 2-2 against Braga. Despite taking the lead twice in the first half thanks to goals from Goncalo Inacio and Luiz Suarez, the reigning Primeira Liga champions still conceded from a penalty in injury time.
However, this result still helps Sporting maintain second place in the Portuguese national championship, 4 points behind the leading team, and extend the 12-match unbeaten streak in all competitions (10 wins, 2 draws).
This impressive streak includes a victory over Porto in the first leg of the Portuguese National Cup semi-finals, as well as positive results in the final stage of the Champions League group stage. Rui Borges' team successively defeated Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 and Athletic Bilbao 3-2, thereby finishing the group stage in seventh place out of 36 teams.
Despite being specially admitted to the round of 16, Sporting still carries unfavorable memories in this period. They once lost to Bayern Munich with a total score of 1-12 in the 2008-2009 season, before continuing to be eliminated by Manchester City with a total score of 5-0 in the round of 16 in the 2021-2022 season.
These results also reflect Sporting's poor performance when playing away from home in European cups. The Portuguese representative has not won any away matches in the round of 16 or further since 2005, with a record of 6 draws and 9 losses. This shows that they will face a significant challenge in their away trip to Aspmyra.
Expected lineup:
Bodo/Glimt: Haikin, Sjovold, Bjortuft, Gundersen, Bjorkan, Evjen, Berg, Fet, Blomberg, Hogh, Hauge.
Sporting Lisbon: Silva, Fresneda, Diomande, Inacio, Vagiannidis, Hjulmand, Morita, Catamo, Trincao, Guilherme, Suarez.
The match between Bodo/Glimt and Sporting Lisbon takes place at 3:00 AM on March 12 (Vietnam time).
