FOOTBALL – NORWEGIAN side Bodo/Glimt pulled off a stunning upset in the Champions League last night, beating Manchester City 3-1 at home to secure their first-ever win in the competition and keep their slim hopes of making the knockout stage alive.
Danish striker Kasper Hogh scored a quick-fire double midway through the first half and Jens Petter Hauge scored a brilliant third with a curling shot in the 58th minute to set the club from inside the Arctic Circle on course for a shock victory.
City pulled a goal back through Rayan Cherki on the hour mark, but captain Rodri was sent off two minutes later for picking up two yellow cards in the space of a minute, derailing their attempted comeback.
Ahead of the rest of the week’s fixtures, City are fourth in the 36-team table with 13 points while Bodo are 26th, two points outside the qualifying spots for the knockout playoffs.
Meanwhile, Arsenal maintained their perfect run in the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Inter Milan at the San Siro, where Gabriel Jesus scored a first-half double and Viktor Gyokeres wrapped up the victory late on.
A seventh win from seven guarantees Arsenal a top-two finish in the league phase which means home advantage in the second leg all the way through to the semi-finals. They sit top of the standings on 21 points, six ahead of Bayern Munich who host Union Saint-Gilloise on Wednesday.
Jesus finished off a scuffed effort by Jurrien Timber to give Arsenal a 10th-minute lead. Petar Sucic levelled eight minutes later only for Jesus to put the visitors back in front with a header from a corner 14 minutes before the break.
Substitute Gyokeres wrapped up the win with a stunning finish from outside the area six minutes from time and Inter dropped to ninth in the table on 12 points.
Tottenham Hotspur shrugged off their domestic gloom with a 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund that took the heat off head coach Thomas Frank and put them within touching distance of the knockout stages.
First-half goals by captain Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke gave Tottenham control against a desperately disappointing Dortmund side who played three-quarters of the match with 10 men after Daniel Svensson’s red card.
Tottenham have won just twice in 11 Premier League matches at their home stadium this season – a run that has left Frank fighting for his job. But in Europe they have been impeccable in north London, winning all four of their Champions League games.
Kylian Mbappe struck twice, and Vinicius Jr scored a spectacular solo goal and provided two assists as Real Madrid cruised to a 6-1 victory over Monaco at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The comprehensive victory lifted Real to second place in the standings with 15 points, level with third-placed Bayern Munich and trailing leaders Arsenal by six, as they moved closer to securing a top-eight finish and direct qualification for the round of 16.
Monaco, meanwhile, are 20th on nine points, giving them a chance of reaching the knockout-phase playoffs.
Mbappe opened the scoring in the fifth minute and gave Madrid a two-goal lead when he found the net again in the 26th, while Franco Mastantuono added their third goal six minutes after halftime.
Monaco defender Thilo Kehrer inadvertently turned a Vinicius cross into his own net in the 55th minute and the Brazilian crowned his man-of-the-match performance in the 63rd with an extraordinary solo goal, firing into the top corner after dribbling past three Monaco defenders inside the box.
Monaco pulled one back in the 72nd minute with a Jordan Teze strike before Jude Bellingham added to Real’s tally with a strike from inside the box in the 80th.
Holders Paris St Germain slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Portuguese side Sporting, jeopardising their bid to qualify directly for the last 16 after Luis Suarez struck twice, netting the winner in the final minute.
Sporting had gone ahead against the run of play in the second half through Suarez, despite sustained pressure from PSG.
The French champions hit back quickly as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia levelled with a superb strike, appearing to salvage a point.
Suarez, however, struck again in the dying moments to snatch victory for Sporting, leaving both teams on 13 points and inside the top eight, which assures direct qualification for the last 16, ahead of PSG’s home match against Newcastle United and Sporting’s trip to Athletic Bilbao.
Both teams lead ninth-placed Inter by a single point.
Substitute Oliver Edvardsen scored in the last minute to give Ajax Amsterdam a dramatic 2-1 away victory over Villarreal that keeps alive their hopes of progress in the Champions League.
Edvardsen buried a cutback cross from flying fullback Anton Gaael in the 90th minute to see the Dutch giants, who had lost their first five group games, come from behind to win a second successive tie which means they still have a chance of finishing in the top 24 with a home game to come against Olympiacos of Greece next week.
Tani Oluwaseyi had given the hosts a 49th-minute lead with a superb volley but Oscar Gloukh’s free kick saw Ajax equalise in the 61st minute before they snatched a much-needed three points.
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