Four Talking Points From Tuesday’s Champions League Action: Bodo/Glimt Advance, Serie A Pain

Arctic minnows Bodø/Glimt produced the story of the night, marching into the Champions League round of 16 at the expense of three-time champions Inter Milan and extending the most unlikely European adventure in Norwegian football history. Kjetil Knutsen’s side arrived at San Siro defending a 3-1 first-leg advantage and, rather than retreat into a shell, counter-punched with the composure of seasoned veterans. Jens Petter Hauge, once discarded by AC Milan after a fleeting San Siro stint, returned to haunt the same grandstand with a calm finish that swelled the aggregate gap and took his personal tally to six goals in the competition. The 26-year-old has now scored in every away fixture of the campaign—Dortmund, Madrid and Milan—proof that Bodø’s success is no snow-assisted anomaly but a product of refined tactical cohesion and individual brilliance. A reunion with Manchester City, humbled 4-0 in the Arctic last month, now looms as the next chapter.

While Norwegian cheers echoed across Europe, Italy’s elite were left counting the cost of another winter of continental discontent. Inter’s exit means Serie A has already lost two of its four representatives before the knockout stage draw; Napoli fell last week, and the prospect of a complete blackout grows with Atalanta and Juventus carrying deficits into Wednesday’s return legs. Should the trend hold, the peninsula will be absent from the last 16 for the first time since the competition rebranded in 1992-93, reviving familiar laments over crumbling infrastructure, shallow academies and an exodus of home-grown difference-makers. The 2022-23 clean sweep of finals—Inter, Roma and Fiorentina all defeated—now looks less a renaissance than a false dawn.

Bayer Leverkusen offered a study in quiet efficiency, squeezing through via a goalless stalemate with Olympiacos to reach the knockouts for a second straight year. The Bundesliga side generated few fireworks over 180 minutes yet illustrated the value of game management when qualification is already tilted in your favour.

In Madrid, Alexander Sørloth stole the spotlight Antoine Griezmann usually commands. The Norwegian battering ram plundered a hat-trick against Club Brugge, profiting from a Simon Mignolet error yet still overpowering Brandon Mechele with pace and power rarely seen at the Wanda Metropolitano. Diego Simeone’s decision to start Sørloth ahead of the 34-year-old Frenchman—heavily linked with a 2025 move to Orlando City—paid instant dividends and booked a last-16 date with either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur.

Newcastle United wrapped up the evening with history in their sights but ultimately settled for a more modest 9-3 aggregate stroll past Qarabağ. Sandro Tonali and Joelinton struck inside six minutes to fuel dreams of eclipsing Bayern Munich’s 12-1 record romp over Sporting CP from 2009, yet the Magpies could not maintain the early blitz. Kieran Trippier’s second-half winner still allowed Eddie Howe to rest key legs ahead of a Premier League relegation scrap with Everton.

Bodø/Glimt, Leverkusen, Atlético and Newcastle join an ever-shrinking circle of survivors, while Italy braces for potential exile when the round-of-16 lineup is finalised.