Chivu's inter collapsed in Norway. To qualify for the League's “eights” he needs a miracle

Ashley Davis19/02/2026

0 60 2 minutes read

After the victories against Atletico Madrid and Manchester City in the single group stage, the Norwegian team Bodo/Glimt achieved another miracle: they beat Inter Milan, the European vice-champion, in the first leg of the Champions League football play-off on Wednesday evening.

Chivu has a difficult time to manage PHOTO EPA

The hosts opened the scoring in the 20th minute, through Fet, then Pio Esposito equalized in the 30th minute. After the break, Bodo scored twice more, through Hauge (61) and Hogh (64).

In the 61st minute, the Romanian coach Cristian Chivu replaced the injured team captain, Lautaro Martinez, with Marcus Thuram.

To take the match to extra time, Inter need a two-goal win in the second leg on February 24.

“The team tried, had a good attitude. We were a bit surprised by their transitions to some loose balls and we paid the price. Despite the difficulties and the cold, I tried, but that is no excuse. Now we have to take inventory, we have a few small problems after this game.

In three days we play in Lecce and then we'll see how we approach the return. In my opinion, we lost Lautaro, he got injured. But there are other players to evaluate tomorrow.

I asked for a little pressure on the balloon carrier, but that wasn't the problem. We were let loose in our attacks. They have speed and intensity, they are used to playing on this pitch, but that is no excuse. Unfortunately, we had that opportunity at 1-1 that we could have managed better, and then we conceded two identical goals.

Everything is still open, there is still the second leg. We know they can be difficult in transition, but we will do our best to move forward in the competition”, said Cristi Chivu at the end, after the match, quoted by tuttomercatoweb.com.

Also on Wednesday evening, in a match remaining from the 24th stage, AC Milan drew at home with Como, score 1-1. Thus, Inter (61 points) now has a 7-point lead over second-placed AC Milan (54 points) with 13 rounds left to play in Serie A.