MILAN, Italy, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Bodo/Glimt dumped last season's finalists Inter Milan out of the Champions League with a remarkable 2-1 win at the San Siro in their playoff second leg on Tuesday that sealed a stunning 5-2 aggregate triumph for the Norwegian minnows.
Having stunned Inter with a 3-1 victory in the first leg in Bodo, the visitors increased their aggregate advantage when Jens Petter Hauge fired home a rebound in the 58th minute and they were in dreamland 14 minutes later when Haakon Evjen effectively put the tie to bed and sent them into the last 16.
The team from the Arctic Circle have been the fairytale story of this season's competition, having sneaked into the playoffs with stunning victories over Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in their final two league-phase matches.
"It has been a journey. There is a large group of us who have been part of it. There are unbelievably many people behind this who have such strong belief in the project," Glimt coach Kjetil Knutsen said to TV2.
After making it three wins in a row in the competition in the first leg against Inter, the Norwegian side named an unchanged starting lineup for the return fixture.
It turned into a relatively comfortable evening for the visitors, who rarely looked in danger of missing out on a first Champions League last-16 appearance as they became the first Norwegian side to advance from a knockout tie in the competition.
"Look at that amazing group. It's surreal and insanely cool, I don't know what to say," goalscorer Evjen said, while team captain Patrick Berg added that it was "the biggest thing I've experienced in the course of my career."
INTER DOMINATE EARLY STAGES
Needing goals, Inter were on the front foot immediately, with Pio Esposito heading over from a cross inside the opening minutes as the home crowd roared them forward.
Inter dominated the opening spell and Marcus Thuram went close with a curler after 15 minutes.
Yet despite the home side’s relentless pressure, the score remained goalless at the break.
Inter continued to press after the restart, and had a penalty appeal for handball turned down when Manuel Akanji's effort was blocked by Fredrik Sjoevold, with the VAR agreeing with the referee's decision not to award a spot kick.
Under sustained pressure, the visitors struck in the 58th minute when Ole Didrik Blomberg seized on a loose pass on the edge of the Inter area and drove at goal. Yann Sommer pushed his shot away but Hauge reacted quickest to convert the rebound from close range.
Evjen put the result beyond doubt in the 72nd minute, guiding a precise right-footed effort into the far bottom corner and while Alessandro Bastoni pulled a goal back for Inter in the 77th minute, it proved too late to alter their fate.
“We conceded a goal with an individual error, it happens in football, but the most difficult thing was to break the deadlock and we didn’t do it. Bodo deserve congratulations, they beat us home and away, so clearly they deserved to go through,” Nicolo Barella told Sky Sport Italia.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Milan, additional reporting by Phil O'ConnorEditing by Toby Davis)
