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Bodo/Glimt down Sporting to continue dream Champions League debut / Photo: Fredrik Varfjell - NTB/AFP
Bodo/Glimt down Sporting to continue dream Champions League debut
Bodo/Glimt continued their dream debut Champions League campaign by swatting aside Sporting Lisbon 3-0 on Wednesday to take a big step towards the quarter-finals.
The Norwegians racked up a remarkable fifth consecutive win in the competition in the last-16 first leg at Aspmyra Stadion.
Sondre Brunstad Fet put Bodo ahead from the penalty spot just after the half-hour mark and Ole Didrik Blomberg made it two in first-half injury time.
Kasper Hogh scored his fifth Champions League goal in as many games with 19 minutes remaining to spark wild celebrations.
Bodo claimed shock wins over Manchester City and Atletico Madrid to progress from the league phase and then beat Inter Milan home and away in the knockout play-off round.
The Champions League debutants are now in pole position to reach the last eight, where Bayer Leverkusen or Arsenal await, ahead of next Tuesday's second leg in Portugal.
Sporting are hoping to reach the last eight for the first time since 1983 after securing a surprise seventh-placed finish in the league phase to automatically qualify for the last 16, but will need a miraculous comeback in the return match.
Bodo started brightly and came close to an eighth-minute opener when Blomberg got in behind and pulled the ball across for Jens Petter Hauge but the in-form forward could only fire narrowly wide.
Sporting threatened for the first time on the counter-attack straight after Bodo midfielder Hakon Evjen was denied at the other end by an onrushing Rui Silva, but Luis Guilherme's low shot was well held by home goalkeeper Nikita Haikin.
The hosts were rewarded for their pressure in the 29th minute as they were awarded a penalty for a foul by Georgios Vagiannidis on Sondre Fet, who stepped up to score himself by sending Silva the wrong way.
Bodo grabbed a second goal in added time, Blomberg slipping the ball into the corner and producing a back-flip in celebration.
Sporting enjoyed more of the ball after the interval but struggled to create chances.
Bodo always looked dangerous and Hogh, who also scored against Man City, Atletico and Inter, steered in Blomberg's low cross from close range to cap off another magnificent night for the Norwegian underdogs.
A.Jackson--SMC
