The circumstances for the Europa League semi-final first leg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were unusual for both sides.
As a consequence of their club-record 19th Premier League defeat by Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur went into the tie sitting 16th in the table with just one league win in their last eight matches. Fulham and Middlesbrough — and indeed Manchester United, who look set to reach the showpiece game this year — have proven it’s possible to reach the final of Europe’s secondary competition while letting their league form slip, but their continental proficiency is at odds with a sustained domestic fragility.
Bodo/Glimt, whose league season began on March 30, are in uncharted territory as Norway’s first-ever representative in a European semi-final. They were also without their star player Patrick Berg and four other typical starters for the first leg due to injuries and suspensions. Still, for a side more accustomed to playing in sub-zero temperatures, the weather conditions in north London represented the most substantial shift.
On the hottest first day of May in London since 1990, recorded temperatures reached as high as 29.3 degrees Celsius in the late afternoon. Back in Bodo, the conditions at kick-off time were around five degrees. For a fishing town just north of the Arctic Circle, anything above freezing is a welcome relief from the winter lows of -12.
Hours before Glimt kicked off against Lazio in their quarter-final first leg, the artificial pitch at the Aspmyra Stadion was buried in thick snow. Tractors and snowploughs helped clear the surface before Glimt convincingly beat Lazio 2-0 in strong winds, accruing an expected goals tally of 3.02 and creating six big goalscoring chances.
While Spurs head to Norway with a two-goal advantage, Glimt’s mastery of the environment should bring some pause to any travelling fans who think this tie is settled.
“Yeah, we always back ourselves at home,” said Glimt defender Odin Bjortuft, speaking before the first leg. “We have good confidence in our home pitch, but we also go with confidence to the away game. No matter what happens at Tottenham, we won’t think the game is over until it’s over.”
Glimt have refined their approach on the road since long-term head coach Kjetil Knutsen first took them into Europe in 2020, becoming a more pragmatic outfit — but they are a different animal entirely in their own patch. They have only lost twice at Aspmyra in the past 12 months, a 3-2 defeat by Rosenborg and a 2-1 defeat by Azerbaijani side Qarabag in November — a match they dominated, amassing an xG of 2.76 compared to Qarabag’s 0.74.
In the knockout phase of the Europa League, they have scored 10 goals and conceded just twice at home, eliminating FC Twente, Olympiacos and Lazio en route to the semi-finals. They’re more than just effective, Glimt play with a thrilling front-footed attacking verve that overwhelms opposition unfamiliar with their style and the conditions.
While the temperature is forecasted to be a milder six degrees on Thursday evening and will not play as much of a factor as it has done in previous rounds, the compact 8,270 capacity stadium and artificial turf could be potential tie-swingers.
“There’s no doubt (the artificial turf) is an advantage for us,” says Bjortuft, “But at the same time, it’s what you’re used to. We train on this pitch every day, the same with the team we meet, they train on grass pitches every day.
”They have an advantage on us, and we have an advantage on them. I think it’s evened out. But of course, playing here at home is a big advantage for us because I don’t think a lot of teams are prepared for what’s coming. We have managed to do this in a successful way. The ball goes really fast here, and that’s a key object for us.“
According to Bjortuft, the key difference on artificial turf is how quickly the ball moves along the ground. Lazio head coach Marco Baroni highlighted this in the previous round, describing the “speed in their exchanges because of the artificial pitch” as a key component to Glimt’s dominance in Norway. For a side that likes to play in their opponent’s half and craft opportunities through slick combination passages, the pace of the pitch adds an effective zip to their attacking play.
“The ball goes really fast when you play passes and it’s more difficult for defenders reaching attackers and getting contact with us,” says Bjortuft. “That’s what we benefit from in these games. Of course, it’s a big difference between artificial and grass in many ways but the main key is that the ball goes so fast. It may be harder to turn and everything for players that are not used to it.”
The surface has the potential to throw up similar complications to when fifth-tier Tamworth took Tottenham to extra time in the FA Cup third round in January. On that occasion, Ange Postecoglou arranged for his players to train on the artificial turf at their training ground to help prepare.
Perhaps in response to their performance at the Lamb Ground, eventually progressing as 3-0 winners after their quality and fitness told in extra time, they will not make the same preparation for Glimt. The pitch at Aspmyra is a first-class surface, and due to the variability in plastic pitches, Postecoglou has planned to wait until they arrive in Norway to be exposed again to the artificial variety.
And if the potential for a giant killing unsettled a rotated Spurs side in Tamworth, the energy in Bodo for the biggest night in the club’s history could overwhelm them entirely — though a more senior outfit dealt with the atmosphere capably against Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-final. Despite a lack of long-term European pedigree, Glimt fans were not surprised to see their side dominate Lazio at home and carry that confidence into the terraces that squeeze the pitch at Aspmyra on Thursday night.
“It’s a smaller stadium than they are used to,” says Bjortuft. “It’s really compact. And it’s a city that stays together. We are really comfortable playing here, as many home teams are.
“I think we have a good backing from the town, and they are really positive, even if it goes south. It’s a good feeling for us to have them on our back.”
(Top photo: Michael Campanella – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
