The Norwegian small town team has become a nightmare for José Mourinho – Bodø / Glimt, which humiliated AS Roma, is close to sensation

The final fights in the semi-finals of the Football Conference League will take place on Thursday. The competition, in which HJK, who plays in the Veikkausliiga, took part last autumn, has given it the desired surprises as it progresses to further games.

By far the biggest surprise of the competition is the reigning Norwegian champion FK Bodø / Glimt. In addition to the difficulty of its name combination, “Lightning of Bodø” in Europe has caused nightmares for larger clubs by playing. The Norwegian team has not lost a match during the entire Conference League, including the qualifiers it has played.

A special spike in the flesh of the team is the coaching legend José Mourinho and the Italian giant he coached to AS Roma. Bodø / Glimt has played against the Romans three times and has never lost to the Grand Club. Instead, on top of a small town of 52,000, the team has humiliated Rome by winning it twice.

One of the wins came in the first round home game in October, marking one of the most humiliating times in the history of AS Roma. Glimt beat the Roman red-yellows in blue guest shirts on 6-1. The loss was one of the biggest ever for the Italian club in the European Cup.

Now Glimt is looking for a miracle against the irritated pride of the Italian capital in the quarterfinals. The first sub-match in the Arctic Circle was already half of it, as the Norwegians grabbed a 2-1 win in front of 8,300 eyes at home.

However, the victory came at a price. Head coach of the Norwegian team Kjetil Knutsen received a preliminary ban from Uefa on Monday for the second round, as did the goalkeeper coach of AS Roman Nuno Santos. The duo clashed after the match in the aisle and the situation became a handshake.

Both clubs blame each other for causing the situation. The hot match is even hotter, and even the snowball rain in Roman Bodø didn’t cool the situation. Before the match Mourinho was thrown a snowball, after the match the English striker Tammy to Abraham a ball flew from the auditorium (you move to another service).

The frustration of Mourinho and Roma with the Norwegians began as early as the October crushing defeat.

The humiliation was very much for Mourinho, who had the biggest loss of his career. After the first match, the Portuguese coach took part in the reasons for his responsibility for the selected team. At the same time, however, he threw his players under the bus, saying the skill level gap between his No. 1 and No. 2 crews was “large.”

– They had more quality than we did. Their first team is much better than our second team, so this is my fault. I wanted to give players a rest period between the Juventus and Naples matches, Mourinho stated. (switch to another service)

The next fight against Glimt, which came in November, did not go significantly better. This time, the Norwegians took the point with a 2-2 draw from Stadio Olimpico, even though the Portuguese pilot got his best on the field.

The third never said anything positive in the end when the first semi-final ended in a defeat and a handcuff by a member of Mourinho’s coaching department. Although AS Roma has improved its performance during the season profusely since the autumn, it did not carry enough in northern Norway.

However, the Roma pilot later introduced his familiar means of media play. In two weeks, Roma was involved in another scandal caused by the coaching team when Mourinho’s assistant coach Salvatore Foti mocked Salernitana’s bench in a Serie A match. Coach of Salernitana Davide Nicola tried to rush at Fot, and Mourinho rushed in.

After the match, he apologized for what happened, but at the same time took advantage of the situation to mock Glimt and its head coach Knutsen.

– I will tell you the truth, unlike certain clubs or some police, he started by referring to the Norwegians immediately.

– Someone on my bench shouted at the Salernitana bench that they were going back to Serie B. I apologized to them for using this person. We are civilized, we leave things on the field. No one on our team expects three quarters to get to hit someone, Mourinho continued his insult.

Glimt’s head coach Knutsen has also been frustrated with Uefa’s decision. He described Bodø to a local newspaper Avisa to Nordland (you switch to another service)that the club and he are surprised by the ban. Glimt appealed the decision, which did not go through.

Mourinho did not get sympathy from him.

– His values ​​and way of coaching are so far from everything I value. It’s a really big disappointment to see that kind of behavior from a great manager who’s been at the top for so long, Knutsen said.

Knutsen has been a big reason why Bodø / Glimt is now challenging Europe’s top teams. The 53-year-old Norwegian has created a team of players whose high press, relentlessly hard pace and offensive play are causing everyone difficulty. Norwich City, among others, followed him in the fall, but eventually hired him as manager Dean Smith.

The international transfer window has caused its own difficulties for Glimt. Excellent in the conference league Patrik Berg (now RC Lens), Erik Botheim (Krasnodar), Fredrik Andre Bjørkan (Hertha Berlin) and Marius Lode (Schalke 04) were in the January transfer window of hard goods based on their evidence.

For the Norwegians, the Conference League has been an important competition in which the club has been able to show its competitiveness and give its players a bigger arena to perform. The transfer amounts have brought money (Botheim’s transfer amount of EUR 5 million, Berg’s EUR 4.5 million) to further develop its operations.

The quartet’s move left Knutsen with a big gap to fill. Nevertheless, the Norwegians were able to grab a valuable victory in the opening match against Roma, even though it was lucky enough to travel. The team’s most important eating teeth right now Ulrik Salnes and Ola Solbakken are Knutsen’s creditors.

Bodø / Glimt has already taken the hearts of many Europeans unexpectedly with its entertaining football and surprises. On Thursday, representatives of the small northern club will have the opportunity to grab an eternal neckline from Jose Mourinho and cause AS Roma a long-lasting nightmare. Winning a match at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico is a big task, but the “little Gaul village” of football has shown its readiness to cause a headache for the Romans.

The second semi-finals of the conference league semi-finals will be played on Thursday. The winner of the pair between AS Roman and FK Bodø / Glimt will face the winner of the PSV Eindhoven – Leicester City pair in the semi-finals.