Milan –
Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu acknowledged the greatness of Bodo/Glimt in successfully eliminating his team from the Champions League. However, the man from Romania also highlighted the opponent’s physically fitter condition because they don’t have as busy a schedule as the Nerazzurri.
Inter fell 1-2 in the second leg of the Champions League playoff which took place at the San Siro, Wednesday (25/2/2026) early morning WIB. These results brought Bodo/Glimt through to the last 16 with a 5-2 aggregate after winning 3-1 in the first leg last week.
For Inter, this defeat was very disappointing, because last season they managed to reach the final. However, Chivu believes that his team has tried their best despite conditions where they have almost always played twice a week since the beginning of the year.
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Meanwhile, Bodo/Glimt have only played four times in 2026, all in the Champions League. This is because the Norwegian League season usually starts in March and ends in December so that players don’t have to compete in the very cold Northern European winter.
This different schedule from the top European leagues makes Bodo/Glimt more ‘fresh’ at the start of the year. This is what Chivu saw on the pitch, while Inter started to wear out.
“I have no reason to blame my players, because they tried their best, and in the second half Bodo had much more energy than us,” Chivu told Sky Sport Italia.
“We gave everything we had, trying to break the deadlock at all costs, but after the break they managed to score two goals.
“There was a lot of disappointment, it was a shame we had to play against a team that had a lot more energy than us, they were very organised, knew they had to do it after the 3-1 result in the first leg and did it brilliantly.”
“We can only congratulate Bodo/Glimt, they are a team that deserves to be in the next round,” explained Chivu.
Inter now just needs to shift their focus to two domestic competitions. They are at the top of the Italian League standings with a 10 point advantage over AC Milan in second place and will face Como in the Coppa Italia semifinals.
(adp/krs)
