Europa League | League Stage

Sep 25, 2024 at 5.45pm UK

Aspmyra Stadion

Bodo/Glimt vs Porto

Match preview

Bodo/Glimt will begin their European campaign with a first-ever meeting against a Portuguese club, in a competition where they have caused a stir previously.

Two years ago, Bodo stunned Europe by thrashing Roma 6-1 in the group stages, and they would also go on to reach the quarter-finals that season, where the Giallorossi exacted revenge to knock Kjetil Knutsen's side out.

Knutsen is still in charge and saw his side narrowly miss out on a first Champions League qualification over the summer.

After knocking RFS and Jagiellonia Bialystok out in qualifying, and beating Red Star Belgrade in the first leg of the playoffs, Bodo fell agonisingly short for the second season running, losing in the Serbian capital to drop into the Europa League.

Knutsen's men have been handed one of the toughest draws too, facing Nice and Besiktas from pot four, while they will also have to go away to Old Trafford to face Manchester United.

While being ranked rather low in the UEFA standings, going away to Bodo/Glimt is an arduous task, on a plastic pitch in freezing temperatures, as they have won 24 of their 30 home European games since returning to continental competition in 2020.

Bodo come into this fixture having won their previous eight home matches in all competitions, losing on twice on home soil in 2024, against Lillestrom in the cup with a heavily rotated side, and after extra time to Ajax in the Conference League.

Confidence may be knocked slightly though, as Bodo suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat away to second-placed Brann at the weekend, cutting their lead at the top of the Eliteserien from 10 points to seven.

Porto will look to capitalise on that as they have made a decent start to their own season in Portugal, and will look to compete with an impressive Sporting Lisbon side at the top.

It was a defeat to Sporting earlier this month that handed Vitor Bruno his first defeat in charge though, meaning Porto are now already playing catch up on the champions.

An impressive 3-0 win away to fellow European competitors Guimaraes at the weekend was the perfect preparation for this fixture, and kept the gap to Sporting down to just three points though.

The start of their Europa League campaign could be potentially tricky for Porto, making such a long away trip here, before facing Manchester United next week.

This is just their third season in the Europa League since its rebranding from the UEFA Cup, and after winning on their debut in 2010-11, Porto went out at the preliminary knockout stage in 2019-20.

Recent Performance

Bodo/Glimt form (all competitions):WWLWWL

Porto form (all competitions):WWWLW

Injuries and suspensions

Bodo/Glimt

5 Brice Wembangomo

3 Omar Elabdellaoui

17 Gaute Vetti

16 Syver Skeide

10 Daniel Bassi

99 Nino Zugelj

Porto

5 Iván Marcano

12 Zaidu Zaidu

10 Fábio Vieira

Possible starting lineups

Bodo/Glimt(4-3-3)

12 Haikin(GK)

20 Sjovold(DR)

6 Gundersen,(DC)

4 VBjortuft(DC)

15Bjorkan(DL)

7 Berg(MC)

26 Evjen(MC)

19Fet(MC)

77 Zinckernagel(WR)

9 Hogh(FW)

23Hauge(WL)

Porto(4-2-3-1)

99Costa(GK)

23Mário(DR)

24Pérez(DC)

97Pedro(DC)

74Moura(DL)

22Varela(DMC)

6Eustaquio(DMC)

11Pepê(AMR)

16González(AMC)

13Galeno(AML)

9Omorodion(FW）