In the lead-up to this encounter, we spoke with Freddy Toresen, a journalist for Norwegian media Avisa Nordland and a follower of Bodo/Glimt for the past 25 years.
Bodo/Glimt, leaders of the Norwegian top division, recently secured a victory against Porto in the Europa League. In the league, they have lost only one of their last five matches. “They have some injury concerns, but many players have returned from injury and are back in action,” Toresen explains.
“I see a certain change recently; the team is playing better and better. They are in a good situation. They will be at their best for the match this Thursday.”
Bodo/Glimt will be missing a few players, especially in defense. However, they can count on two former Pro League players who are finding their form again: Philipp Zinckernagel (ex-Standard and Club Bruges) and Jens-Petter Hauge (ex-Gent).
“Zinckernagel is likely to start on the right, Hauge on the left. Since his transfer to AC Milan, Hauge has played only 10 full matches in three years. He needed more playing time to develop and gain the coach’s trust. Zinckernagel told me he is finding joy in playing football again. Last week, he played as a forward and was spectacular. They are the two key players for Bodo/Glimt, their main weapons,” Toresen asserts.
In a pre-match press conference, Sébastien Pocognoli compared the recent histories of Bodo/Glimt and Union, two “smaller” clubs now performing well on the national and European stages. Toresen agrees with this comparison.
“I believe if Bodo/Glimt wins the league this season, they will become the greatest club in Norway. They could win the championship four times in five years. That’s significant for a club in the Arctic Circle of Norway.”
“Union and Bodo/Glimt are two clubs in a somewhat comparable situation. Bodo/Glimt has a small stadium with only 8,000 seats but can play in Europe there. Union was one of the best clubs in Belgium 100 years ago. Like Bodo/Glimt, they have been relegated and have come close to winning the title several times. So yes, there are many similarities between these two clubs. This makes the match even more exciting.”
Bodo/Glimt has achieved numerous results in Europe in recent years, notably beating AS Roma with a historic scoreline of 6-1. Freddy Toresen recalls, “Of course, they had a slight advantage with their artificial pitch. Roma suffered José Mourinho’s heaviest defeat as a coach. In the return leg, they wanted to annihilate Bodo/Glimt; the match ended 2-2. They realized Bodo/Glimt was not there to mess around.”
“They met again in the quarter-finals. Bodo/Glimt won 2-1 at home but then lost 4-0 away. But they also defeated PSV and Celtic… Like this Thursday, they are capable of playing well away from their artificial pitch.”
To conclude, we asked Freddy Toresen for his prediction regarding the nature and outcome of tonight’s match.
“Bodo/Glimt will not play differently than usual. They will try to attack, playing in a 4-3-3 formation, starting from the back. They will attempt to counter Union’s high pressing. They know Union is struggling and missing a few players, but they remain a good team. I think the match will end in a draw, probably 1-1.”
