Manchester City slumped to one of the most humiliating defeats in Champions League history, losing 3-1 at tiny Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt in a stunning upset north of the Arctic Circle on Tuesday.
The second-half sending-off of Rodri completed a miserable evening for big-spending City in Bodø, a fishing town with a population of around 55,000 and located more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Oslo — farther north than soccer’s top club competition has ever been.
Kasper Høgh scored close-range goals in the 22nd and 24th minutes to set Bodø/Glimt — a tournament debutant this season — on its way to its first-ever win in the competition.
Jens Petter Hauge sent the home fans wild inside the 8,000-capacity Aspmyra stadium by curling into the top corner in the 58th to make the score a scarcely believable 3-0.
City replied through Rayan Cherki in the 60th but hopes of a comeback were damaged by Rodri — the Ballon d’Or winner in 2024 — getting sent off in the 62nd minute for collecting a second yellow card in quick succession.
The win was no fluke for Bodø, which constantly pierced City’s flimsy, injury-hit defense on the counterattack and had two goals disallowed for narrow offside decisions, while also hitting the crossbar and forcing some great saves out of Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Pep Guardiola’s City has spent more than $500 million on new signings over the last 12 months but is going through a rough patch, having also lost 2-0 at fierce rival Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.
This upset was up there with the most unlikely results down the years in the Champions League, including Moldovan club Sheriff beating Real Madrid 2-1 in 2021, Rubin Kazan winning 2-1 at Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2009, and Swiss underdog Basel beating Alex Ferguson's Manchester United by the same score in 2011.
City started the seventh round of matches in fourth place, but could be about to drop out out of the eight automatic qualification positions. Teams who finish in positions 9-24 after next week's final round have to go through the playoffs.
Later, Arsenal protects the only 100% record in the tournament in an away match at Inter Milan, while defending champion Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid seek wins to close on automatic qualification.
Arsenal has six straight wins and needs one point to become the first team to secure a spot in the round of 16. After defeats to Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, Inter — the heavily beaten finalist last season — dropped to sixth place and is looking to avoid three straight losses in the competition for the first time.
Madrid, the record 15-time champion, was hosting Monaco and started the game in seventh place, on the same 12 points as ninth-placed Liverpool.
New Madrid coach, Álvaro Arbeloa, was in his third match at the helm and taking charge of a Champions League game for the first time. Star striker Kylian Mbappé will be playing against his first club.
With one point more was third-place PSG, which faced a trip to Sporting Lisbon.
Of the 36 teams in the Champions League, 11 have changed coaches this season — and one more could go if Tottenham’s poor run of results continued when Borussia Dortmund visited.
Thomas Frank remains in charge of Tottenham but is on shaky ground and has been jeered by fans in recent games.
Kairat Almaty, a tournament newcomer from Kazakshtan, stayed as one of four teams without a win so far after losing 4-1 to Club Brugge.
Brugge scored twice in each half to post a second victory of the league stage and move onto seven points — keeping alive hopes of making the playoffs.
Kairat remained in last place on one point.
Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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.
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