DINAMO ZAGREB – BODØ / GLIMT 4-1 after extra time, 4-2 on aggregate.
ZAGREB (Nettavisen): Albert Grønbæk set the tent on fire with his 2-1 halftime mark, and the battle for a place in the Champions League group stage has become an enduring drama in Croatia.
After a first round that didn’t give much hope in the historic group stage of the biggest club tournament, the yellow-clad teams soared wildly after the break.
2-1 overtime guaranteed after regular time, as several of Glimt’s key players eventually had to change after cutting countless metres, and Dinamo Zagreb reclaimed the field game. Four minutes before what could have been a penalty shootout, the home side scored when Josep Drmic fired the ball into the penalty area after a fine save by Nikita Heiken.
The Swiss ice put the ball in the net and thus in the Champions League match at the expense of the Glimt team, who fought very bravely for 120 minutes. Soon, Petar Bocage hammered the nail into Glimt’s coffin.
– Unexplainable
TV 2 football expert Eric Thorstvedt was unimpressed by Glimt’s defensive play in the crucial 3-1 goal he conceded.
– It’s completely inexplicable, how could he have such freedom there, he says in TV Studio 2 after the match.
– They allowed too easy goals, unfortunately, colleague Simin Stamsø Muller agrees.
Glimt coach Kjetil Knutsen was very unhappy with the appearance of his crew in the first half.
– I was very disappointed in the first half. Then it’s the exact opposite of what we talked about before the match, he told TV 2 after the match.
We are not strong enough to keep our focus when it really matters, Knutsen adds.
With that said, expert Thorstvedt clearly didn’t lose to a better team on Wednesday night.
4-1 says very little about this match. It’s okay to feel upset when you lose to a better team, but I refuse to believe that some Bodo/Glimt players feel like they’ve lost to a team that was better than them. He says they feel like they put this on the hook, but then it all slips away in the end.
For his part, football expert Lars Tijarnas expressed his admiration for how close Glimt was to the group stage of the Champions League.
– It’s brutal, Glimt. It was a very honest and good attempt. He would have treated you in the Champions League. But when the time comes, you will go on an adventure in the European League, he wrote on Twitter after the match.
Read also: It was blown up outside the stadium in a meeting with Glimt’s signature: – He wasn’t ready for it
The nightmare begins for Glimt
In front of the crowded hosts at Maksimir Stadium, the Bad Blue Boys made a violent pre-match noise, and just three minutes into the match the legendary homers nearly exploded on the grass.
Then Dynamo star Mislav Orcic fired the freedom on the left flank at the Glimt Arena. After his first shot attempt was hampered, he fired his second ball into the short corner of Nikita Heiken who couldn’t do much.
Thus, a nightmarish start was a reality for the Bodø/Glimt team that looked very affected before the break. Isak Amundsen, who played a giant game in Aspmera, suffered greatly against the great Bruno Petkovic, who joined Dinamo Zagreb, and after 35 minutes the 28-year-old also made a C moment.
The striker sent in a cross from the right, threw himself back and smashed the ball into the net to make it 2-0 to deafening cheers from the home crowd. The hosts dominated most of the match before the break against a Glimt side who looked very affected in the club’s biggest game of all time.
If we keep going like this, we’ll get out. We have to be braver when we get the ball and give them two goals. There are a lot of opportunities, but we are not taking advantage of them. We should, we have to be brave, but we did the opposite, if you ask me, the harsh verdict from Kjetil Knutsen on the way out of the break was.
Crazy entry Grønbæk
The yellow-clad players responded after the break, slowly but surely making their way into the match. The visibly tired Dynamo team struggled at times as the Gilmett set the pace, and the visitors already tightened the screws when Runar Esbjord and Albert Grunbeck came in just over an hour later.
Grønbæk, the record signing, broke into the left winger role, sending Glimt fans into high spirits 70 minutes into the match after a solo performance that alone deserved the Champions League title.
The Dane received the ball from a distance of about 16 metres, pulled up two opponents and netted the ball to make it 2-1 in front of a completely silent short side at Maksimir.
The result completely changed the character of the game, and suddenly Glimt dominated the match against a powerful dynamo team. Brice Wembangomo had a good shot in the 77th minute, but the ball slipped.
The match was tied 2-1, and eventually went into overtime. There, Kjetil Knutsen had to make many substitutions as a result of tired legs, and Dinamo Zagreb dominated most of them.
In the end, Maher Emreli came out on the right, and in the end the ball ended in the legs of Dermic who scored 3-2. In overtime also responded
Read about the match minute by minute here!
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