Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain quickly snuffed out hopes of epic comebacks by Manchester City and Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Instead, it was tiny Bodø/Glimt on the receiving end of a historic second-leg fightback in the round of 16.
Protecting three-goal leads from the first leg, Madrid won 2-1 at City — helped by an early red card to City captain Bernardo Silva — to advance 5-1 on aggregate and defending champion PSG scored twice in the first 14 minutes on the way to a 3-0 victory at Chelsea. That sealed an 8-2 aggregate success.
Bodø/Glimt, the Norwegian club from a fishing town of around 55,000 people north of the Arctic Circle, also had a 3-0 lead from the first leg but was blown away 5-0 by Sporting Lisbon after extra time.
There’s only been one bigger comeback in the Champions League: Barcelona’s storied “Remontada” against PSG in 2016-17.
Sporting’s reward is a quarterfinal matchup with Arsenal, which beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 for a 3-1 aggregate win and kept alive its hopes of a quadruple of trophies this season.
The Bodø/Glimt fairytale is over — but only after an unlikely streak of wins that has charmed the world of soccer.
After beating Man City and Atletico Madrid in the final two rounds of the league stage to squeeze into the playoff round, the northernmost team ever to play in the Champions League defeated Inter Milan — last season’s runner-up — home and away to advance to the round of 16.
Winning 3-0 in its 8,000-capacity Aspmyra stadium last week didn’t prove enough against Sporting, which dominated throughout in the return match and scored through Gonçalo Inácio, Pedro Gonçalves and Luis Suarez to take the game to extra time.
There, Uruguay left back Maxi Araújo scored in the 92nd minute to put Sporting ahead on aggregate for the first time and Rafael Nel added a fifth in stoppage time.
“People thought it was almost impossible,” Araújo said, “but we showed that we believed in ourselves and turned it around. We played a perfect game.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
“Powerful, moving, and exhilarating” Read moreSongs For A New World
Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, is a fas… Read moreAragon High School Theatre presents "Puffs"
Join us for this fun community gathering. There will be a resource fair, music and a raffle.… Read moreBelmont Senior Showcase
Art Without An Artist: Can AI Be Considered An Artist? Read moreART WITHOUT AN ARTIST: Can AI be Considered an Artist?
Ready to dive into the world of Accessory Dwelling Units? Join us in person for a casual, in… Read moreBuild Your ADU Seminar: From Permits to Keys
Exclusive film screening in San Mateo Read moreA LITTLE FELLOW: THE LEGACY OF A.P.GIANNINI
Planning your dream wedding? Discover everything you need at the Wedding Fair in the Park – … Read moreWedding Fair in the Park
Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.