Inter Milan Vs Bodø/Glimt [1–2] – Champions League 2025/2026: How Arctic Resilience Stunned Last Year’s Finalists – Tactical Analysis

Inter came into Tuesday’s clash with Bodø/Glimt needing to overcome a two-goal deficit to advance to the Champions League Round of 16.

After a dismal performance north of the Arctic Circle, Cristian Chivu’s men really needed a dominant performance, but it was hardly that.

Kjetil Knutsen brought an excellent tactical approach that enabled the Norwegian side to see the tie out and reach the Round of 16.

This is probably a moment beyond their wildest dreams to not only progress to the last 16, but to knock out last year’s runner-up at their own stadium.

You cannot really put into words how crazy this run is for Bodø/Glimt.

Going into matchweek seven of the league phase, they were sitting on only three points, with Manchester City and Atlético Madrid left to play, which gave them only a 0.3% chance of progressing to the knockout stage.

Defying the odds, they beat Manchester City at home and then on the road and beat Atletico Madrid to sneak into the knockout playoffs.

They have also done all of this in the middle of their offseason.

The last league match Bodø/Glimt played was in late November, so they’ve done all of this without a consistent run of matches.

In this article, we will take a look at how Inter struggled to find space through the middle of Bodø/Glimt’s compact 4-4-2, Bodø/Glimt’s emphasis on direct play and winning second balls, and how Knutsen’s team took advantage of Inter’s mistakes to win the match 2-1.

Inter Vs Bodø/Glimt Lineups & Formations

Cristian Chivu lined his team up in their usual 3-5-2 formation

Yann Sommer occupied his usual spot in goal behind the centre-backs of Yann Aurel Bisseck, Manuel Akanji, and Alessandro Bastoni.

Luis Henrique and Federico Dimarco started together as the two wing-backs.

Nicolò Barella, Davide Frattesi, and Piotr Zieliński started as the three central midfielders.

Francesco Pio Esposito and Marcus Thuram started as the two strikers up top.

Cristian Chivu made five substitutions in the match.

In the 62nd minute, Chivu made a triple substitution, bringing on Andy Diouf for Henrique, Petar Sučić for Zieliński, and Ange-Yoan Bonny for Frattesi.

In the 81st minute, Carlos Augusto came on for Dimarco, and Denzel Dumfries came on for Bisseck.

Kjetil Knutsen lined Bodø/Glimt up in a 4-4-2 formation.

Nikita Haikin lined up in goal behind Odin Lurås Bjørtuft and Jostein Gundersen as the centre back pairing.

Fredrik André Bjørkan started at left-back, while Fredrik Sjøvold started at right-back.

Patrick Berg and Sondre Brunstad Fet started together in central midfield, with Håkon Evjen on the right, and Jens Petter Hauge started as the left winger.

Ole Didrik Blomberg played off Kasper Waarst Høgh in his usual spot up top at striker.

Kjetil Knutsen made four substitutions in the match.

In the 77th minute, Isak Määttä came on for Blomberg, and Andreas Helmersen came on for Høgh.

In the 82nd minute, Ulrik Saltnes came on for Evjen.

The final substitution came in the 85th minute when Haitam Aleesami came on for Bjørkan.

Inter Milan Struggle For Central Control

Cristian Chivu has not really changed Inter’s tactics too much from Simone Inzaghi, so they are still very reliant on crosses into the box to create a majority of their chances.

With that being said, being down two goals, they had to find another way to break Bodø/Glimt down.

In the first leg, they struggled to create chances that way, recording only six accurate crosses, which is actually below their season average.

Since they were going to be controlling the majority of possession, they had to find a way to play through the middle of the Bodø/Glimt to create more dangerous chances.

In the first half, they basically were using a 3-1-6 build-up structure with Zieliński as the single pivot to really try and put the pressure on Bodø/Glimit’s backline.

Knutsen, though, had his team very well drilled in their 4-4-2 low block, with his front two sitting off the ball, ensuring the sole focus was to deny passes through the middle and force the ball out wide.

Really, the only success Inter had was when they were able to switch the play and find their full-backs in space, as Akanji did here, finding Dimarco.

Early on, Inter recognised this and at times tried to overload out wide, but the only success they had was creating space out wide to send in crosses.

With a two-goal advantage, it was a risk Bodø/Glimt were willing to take, because if Inter were able to exploit them through the middle, their chances would have been far more dangerous than simply challenging their forwards in the air.

The crosses weren’t working, so as the first half went along, Inter started to try harder and harder to find space through the middle by overloading them, but it simply didn’t work.

Heading into the break, it was 0-0, and Inter had only created 0.62 xG from 12 shots (0.37 of the xG was from set-pieces).

That is really inefficient considering they had 30 touches in Bodø/Glimt’s penalty area and had seven accurate crosses into the box.

Once the second half started, Inter abandoned any hope of playing through the middle and started firing a ton of crosses into the box.

Over the second half, they completed a whopping 12 crosses into the penalty area, but still didn’t really do anything from open play because 1.23 of their 1.67 xG in the second half came from set-pieces.

When you look at Inter’s pass map from the match, you’ll see that Bodø/Glimt did an excellent job allowing very few passes through the middle, so an all-around brilliant job by Knutsen’s men. 

Inter Milan Pass Map Vs Bodø/Glimt

Bodø/Glimt Direct Play & Second Balls

If you’ve watched any of Knutsen’s team, you’ll know that they play with no fear, playing out from the back.

With that said, because they arrived at San Siro with a two-goal advantage, it made sense to take a more direct approach, since Inter would press them aggressively.

What Knutsen did was have his team either send the ball long from goal kicks or, initially, play out of the back and target their forwards with direct balls.

They had a lot of success playing the ball out wide initially, then using angles to feed balls up to the forwards.

From here, he had his team well positioned to overload the area where second balls were likely to fall after a duel, which gave Bodø/Glimt a couple of really nice chances to hit Inter quickly after the duel.

They also used their intricate passing to set up balls in behind, which led to the second goal.

Because they didn’t try to play through Inter’s pressure, they limited the opportunities Inter had for quick transitions from winning the ball in the final third.

In the match, Inter had only three high turnovers and 18 forced danger zone losses, generating only two shots from those losses.

That is a massive drop-off from the first leg, when Inter forced 32 danger-zone losses and generated seven shots from them.

Bodø/Glimt Capitalising On Mistakes

Bodø/Glimt went into the break with only one shot and hadn’t really threatened Inter at all.

There were times when they pressed Inter man-to-man high up the pitch, but they were always really hesitant not to leave their backline exposed in 1v1s against Inter’s forwards.

The opening goal came off the only high turnover they had for the entire match.

Akanji was trying to dribble out under pressure and made a big error, giving Bodø/Glimt the lead and effectively putting the tie to bed.

There were also plenty of other times when Inter was sloppy with their passing in the final third, and Bodø/Glimt hit them on the break or easily retained possession to keep Inter from having complete control.

Conclusion

In the end, did Bodø/Glimt deserve to go through against Inter?

Yes and No.

If you go by the expected goals and shots, Inter had 3.85 xG from 45 shots while Bodø/Glimt had 2.93 xG from 15 total shots over the two legs.

However, Bodø/Glimt did a magnificent job defensively, limiting Inter’s quality of chances from open play, and forcing them to try to beat their low block with crosses, and Chivu’s side could not do it.

Knutsen’s team showed no fear and came with a great tactical approach: playing direct and winning second balls in the second leg, but, honestly, they were able to play through Inter over the two legs when they did pass the ball short.

It’s an amazing story that continues into the Round of 16, where the small club north of the Arctic Circle will either get a rematch with Manchester City or face Sporting CP, trying to defy the odds once again to reach the quarter-finals.