Bodø/Glimt’s Champions League Rise: No Miracle Needed

We could call it a miracle if it was just one match.

If there was one night where the posts played as a team, all shots went in, and the goalkeeper had the game of his life. Anyone can be lucky for 90 minutes. And Glimt was a bit lucky when they beat Atlético Madrid 2-1 away on Wednesday night.

But Glimt has now delivered three miracles in a row. Seven points against three of the world’s best teams. And then there will be something more. Something more systematic, more rational.

The dictionary defines a miracle as an “incomprehensible event”.

This fairy tale actually has an explanation.

Dead and buried

That makes Glimt’s advancement even more impressive.

It would have been different if Glimt had played roughly as well in all eight games in the group stage. If there was no sign of growth. It is a little more than four months since they were lucky to manage 2-2 away to Czech Slavia Prague.

They took one point against one of the weakest Tottenham teams in 20 years.

They lost at home to Monaco, who are now mid-table in France.

They smoked against Juventus, who were then a shadow of themselves.

Two points in five games. “Dead and buried,” said Fredrik Sjøvold. The level was too high. It was too much to take in at once. And now they should take seven points against Dortmund, Manchester City and Atlético Madrid?

Out of date. Impossible. The chance of advancement seemed equal to 0.0000001%.

That is to say: As long as they continued as before.

But then Glimt changed as a team.

Tactically smarter

The gods know what Kjetil Knutsen has done on the training field in recent weeks.

In these three matches, we have hardly believed our eyes, and yet the process has been classic Glimt. They have lost, seen, learned and corrected. They have worked their way into it.

They have reminded us that Glimt’s journey to the top is – and always was – built on intense sessions, sharp drills and countless hours in front of the screen to analyse, note and correct.

“Tactically smarter”, Knutsen calls the team now.

The most miraculous thing about the comeback is the work behind it. It’s the quality of the work we don’t see.

The track where (almost) no one wins

Let there be no doubt about the greatness of this advancement.

Glimt drew 2-2 away to the team that is number two in the Bundesliga. They beat City by two goals. Atlético Madrid does not have the same historical weight as Barcelona and Real Madrid, but let’s put the facts on the table:

They are in third place in La Liga.

They had not lost at home since March last year, and then against league champions Barcelona. In September, they crushed Real Madrid 5–2 on the same turf.

This was no casualty crew. It wasn’t a B team. Atlético had to win to secure an automatic place in the round of 16.

We so how good they were.

Especially before the break, Atlético kept up with beautiful attacks. They hit wood. They had 12 corners and 27 finishes. The pace was sky-high, the pressure enormous. The Glimt edition that faced Slavia Praha had been torn to shreds.

But not this gang. Not now.

Pep was not surprised

Now there are no arguments left against Glimt.

Nobody can talk about it being “only” the Europa League. No one can point to the artificial grass as the “real reason” for them reaching this far. In England, they still remember when Tromsø beat Chelsea 3–2 in the snow at Alfheim in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1997, and then lost 7–1 in London.

Everyone now knows that Glimt can bite over two games in the playoffs.

The only negative thing about these victories is that it becomes increasingly difficult to underestimate Glimt. When City had lost 3–1 at the Aspmyra, manager Pep Guardiola said he knew how good they were.

– We did not underestimate them. They reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, he said.

It was as if Guardiola was trying to convince the rest of the world that Glimt our good, economy and population numbers notwithstanding.

Someone probably laughed at him then. They don’t now.

Everything is possible

There is no reason why Glimt cannot take it a step further.

Inter or Real Madrid in the playoffs? Nothing is impossible when you beat City and Atlético. Nothing is impossible when you have a coach, and a group of players, who are so good at adapting to the level and learning from their mistakes.

The striker legend Thierry Henry said on Wednesday evening that nobody wants to meet Glimt now. He has seen what all coaches in the tournament must have learned:

This is not a miracle. Glimpses are just really good.

And they are getting better all the time.