Bodo/Glimt (Norway) (Home) 01.05.2025

The game couldn’t have started much better for Tottenham.  Although the opposition kicked off, a straight long ball was won by skipper Cristian Romero and booted clear by Pedro Porro.  Being headed forward again by , collected by Nielsen, the ball was picked off by Rodrigo Bentancur, who fed it forward to James Maddison on halfway.  The ball was spread wide left to Richarlison, whose cross was won by Brennan Johnson at the far post, but his header went straight up into the air and was headed outside the box to the Tottenham right where Bissouma shrugged off Blomberg.  He nudged the ball back to Porro, whose deep cross was headed back across goal by Rishi and Johnson was at the far post to head the ball back across the keeper and in to make it 1-0 in 38 seconds.  

A fantastic start and it didn’t stop there.  Five minutes in, Romero launched a ball forward and Maddison made a well timed run, but was unable to keep his volley down with the ball arriving waist-high and it went over the bar.  Spurs were quicker to the ball and moved it quickly in transition to get at the Bodo penalty area.  That meant that the Norwegian side could not easily get across the halfway line, but their poor passing didn’t help them until Saltnes fooled the referee into giving them a free-kick 25 yards out when Yves Bissouma clearly won the ball.  It was knocked short and eventually floated into the box, where Guglielmo Vicario came to claim it, but, with Romero underneath him, but dropped the ball on the captain’s head before grabbing it before a yellow shirt could react.

Maddison opened up space for Richarlison on the left and his first time ball was cut out and then he was away again, running at the defence in the box to win another corner.  This earned another corner out on the right, which came out to Bissouma.  Yves had two earlier shots blocked but this one went almost into the second tier of the North Stand.  Fet, who looked like he was about eight years old, fouled Destiny Udogie and then a worse one on Bentancur within a couple of minutes but the referee failed to take any action other than give free-kicks.  When Maatta went down in the box as Spurs were guilty of some hesitant defending, it looked as though he was expecting some contact which didn’t come.  Embarrassingly, the Bodo players questioned the ref, who showed no interest in awarding a spot-kick.   The player stayed down and to make it look as though he was the injured party, claimed his shoulder was injured.

Micky van de Ven chipped a ball over the back-line and Domonic Solanke did really well to control the ball and knock it into the path of Udogie, whose first time effort was hooked high over the bar.  Some neat passing between Udogie and Maddison set Richarlison into the box, although his finish lacked conviction and the keeper held the ball that was aimed straight at him.  Micky took the ball off Maatta, went 360 and passed back to Vicario.  Some sections of the crowd still don’t get that we play out from the back, urging the long ball, but the keeper passed right to Porro, who strode forward before striking a long pass over the defenders.  He picked out James Maddison’s run for the midfielder to take it down with the outside of his right foot to the right of the goal, just inside the area and then screwing the ball back with that same foot past the goalkeeper, who had come out to him and two defenders to find the opposite bottom corner of the net.  15 seconds from the Spurs keeper to the back of the opposition net with a vindication of the way the team want to play.

At 2-0 within 35 minutes, the atmosphere was electric as Spurs pressed high again, straight after the goal.  When we cut out a ball Richarlison played a smart ball outside the full back for Udogie to run onto and his cut back was half-cleared and then knocked out further to Bentancur outside the D.  Running onto it, he chested it and as the ball dropped, connected with it sweetly and it was fizzing towards the top right hand corner of the keeper’s goal until Haikin made a wonderful save throwing a hand up to push the ball over the bar somehow.   

As the first half entered added time, Maatta got a cross in from the right and Blomberg had made a run to the near post and met the ball on the volley, sending it narrowly over the bar.  It looked as though Rodrigo was the favourite to win it, but the defender got across him to make the first contact and it showed that this game was far from over. 

With Richarlison being replaced by Mathys Tel at the break, Spurs looked to push on, but Bodo enjoyed more considered possession, but a break down the right by Brennan Johnson saw Bjorkan bring him down and get a booking for his offence,  Strange when Fet had already committed his third bad foul minutes after the restart.  Maddison swung the ball in, it was won by a defender, who headed it up in the air, with Cristian first to the ball winning another header that took the ball wider towards the left edge of the penalty box.  He was left in a heap by Sjovold, who moved the ball away, but Bentancur recovered possession, crossed low for it to be cleared to Bissouma, whose shot was also blocked, rebounding off the referee, who stopped the game.  Both captains were asking questions of the referee, who was called to the monitor.  The linesman was keen to keep van de Ven and Udogie away from the screen, but it became clear that the defender had kicked through Romero’s calf and the referee pointed to the spot.  Maddison grabbed the ball and with Saltnes and the keeper trying to play mind games, but it didn’t work as Solanke was the one to take the pen.  Slowing down his run up sold the keeper, who went down on one knee to his left allowing Dom to stroke it calmly to the opposite side of the goal to give Tottenham a 3-0 lead.

After the game kicked off again, Maddison went down holding his knee and was replaced by Dejan Kulusevski, but it was Bissouma, how was having one of the best games for the club in a long time, who was pressing in the midfield, winning the ball five yards outside the Bodo box and giving Dom the opportunity to run at goal and his shot was blocked for another corner, which Romero headed just wide.  Yves also made an important interception as the ball was played into the Spurs box after some nice passing by the visitors and then Porro got to the ball first in the box after the ball was dinked through for Saltnes. 

Romero picked up a booking for blocking Gunderson off the ball, with the ref allowing play to go on for along time before stopping it for the free-kick and the yellow card.  At the same time, Solanke went down before he went off with Wilson Odobert coming off the bench and going out to the left wing.  From the free-kick Bodo won a corner – their first of the match in the 75th minute.

Udogie made a run taking on Sorli and beating him with ease, but his decision to shoot at the near post forcing Haikin to a save was perhaps not the best one, with players in the middle, although there were plenty of yellow shirts back.  Then Kulusevski had the opportunity to shape a shot around a defender as he entered the area, but it hit Moe and went wide, then from the corner, Tel had a volley after the ball was headed up in the air, but again, a deflection took it wide with the keeper committed to diving the other way.

What was a well-worked series of passes by Bodo from the back put Saltnes inside the box and he shifted the ball from left to right foot and Bentancur’s block could only lift the ball up and out of Vicario’s reach.  Eight minutes left in the match and the Norwegians’ improved second half performance had brought them a goal that narrowed the score-line. 

The last kick of the game came after good work by Odobert, Tel and Udogie opened up the left side with Wilson pulling a ball back to the near post for Kulusevski to turn on the ball and shoot agonisingly wide of the far post.

The final whistle brought a good reaction from the Spurs fans, although the players looked disappointed at conceding the goal and while it cast a late shadow over what was a solid and disciplined performance, the attacking element of the display showed that the team can shift the ball from defence to attack very quickly.  

The closing down was very effective tonight, with Bissouma and Bentancur outstanding, with Rodrigo my man of the match.  Not only was he covering a lot of ground, but his winning of the ball and his passing to keep the team moving was excellent.  He was so unlucky to be denied a goal just before half-time by a superb save from the Bodo goalkeeper.  Solanke ran the channels and proved a handful for the defenders, while Richarlison did well in the first half, with Tel doing a similar job in the second.  Johnson was a willing runner and was in the right place at the start of the match to give us the all-important early goal.  The defenders were all on the same page, being unfortunate to concede with a shot that Vicario seemed to have covered, with Bodo’s first shot on target finding the net.

How much effect the return of the suspended Bodo/Glimt players will have in the unusual surroundings in the second leg, who knows, but there was enough evidence from this leg that Spurs have a good opportunity to get what they need from a visit to Norway.

• This was Tottenham’s 20th game unbeaten in home Europa League matches.
• Brennan Johnson’s goal was the fastest scored in a Europa League semi-final and the fastest scored in a competitive match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
• Tottenham’s victory was their 100th at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.