Inter stun Bodø/Glimt, Newcastle see off Qarabag: Champions League playoffs - as it happened

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Louise Taylor was at St James’ Park tonight. Here’s her verdict. Thanks for reading this Clockwatch on a historic night for Bodø/Glimt, who swatted aside three-time champions and current Serie A leaders Internazionale, continuing one of the great giant-killing runs in Champions League history.

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Eddie Howe talks to Amazon Prime. “At 2-0 we probably came off the pedal … we didn’t intend to do that but it was the natural reaction … the second half became end to end … we expended too much energy … so we’re disappointed … today feels like a hollow win for us … [reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League] was our target at the start of the season … the sharp end against the decent teams … we have to get our Premier League form back, and that’s the best chance for us to do well in this competition as well … there was a bit of fatigue in the second half … there’s double-edged sword to it as the players are in good rhythm … we’ve won four out of five so let’s keep it going.”

Howe won’t be drawn on whether he’d prefer to play Chelsea or Barcelona in the last 16, but he does comment on the tifo displayed in his honour before the match (and that he didn’t see at the time!): “The love that the supporters give me and the team means everything.”

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Post-match postbag. “Goodness me! Italy just keeps on giving to us Norwegians. Two wins for the men’s national team (and a scoreline of 7-1 on aggregate to boot), a record-breaking medals count in the Winter Olympics, and now one of the most sensational achievements in European football history. Wow, just wow. Can we please be matched up with Italy for the rest of time?” – Joakim Nysnø

“After their previous giant-killing feats against the likes of Man City and Atletico Madrid, Bodø knock Inter out of the Champions League and here in Naples, not many tears will be shed. Quite extraordinary performance at the San Siro” – Colum Fordham

“I’m a football romantic, I love a good underdog story, but this is surely too much. The gods, or capitalism, will punish a team like Bodø/Glimt for bringing such effervescence and joy to the world. What is going on?!? I’m reeling, happily, from what I’ve just seen. I’m having a hard time thinking of Champions League and European Cup upsets that compare. CSKA Sofia beating holders Nottingham Forest in 1980 springs to mind, and I’m sure there are others, but there won’t be many. This is ludicrous. Ludicrous!” – Kári Tulinius

“You’re probably all over this stat, but Bodø/Glimt are the first team sharing its name with an Amnesiac-era Radiohead b-side to qualify for the final stages of the Champions League” – Paul Griffin

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Updated at 17.16 EST

Bodø/Glimt looked absolutely buried during the league stage. Two points after the first five matches. Then they did this …

Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Bodø/Glimt

Bodø/Glimt 3-1 Manchester City

Atletico Madrid 1-2 Bodø/Glimt

… to squeak into the knockout phase in 23rd place, and by two goals. And now they’ve done this …

Bodø/Glimt 3-1 Internazionale

Internazionale 1-2 Bodø/Glimt

… which has to be one of the great Goliath-slaying runs in European Cup and Champions League history! Whatever happens here - and Manchester City certainly won’t fancy another trip to northern Norway if that’s what comes to pass – they’ve made some history. Not least because they’re now just one step away from becoming only the second Norwegian team to make it to the quarters, following Rosenborg in 1997!

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FULL TIME: Inter 1-2 Bodø/Glimt (agg 2-5)

Here’s your story. Blimey! Nothing more than the Norwegian side deserves. Better in the first leg; a classic rope-a-dope European away performance in the second. They’ll face either Manchester City or Sporting in the last 16! Inter face a long period of intense navel-gazing.

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Updated at 17.07 EST

FULL TIME: Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Olympiacos (agg 2-0)

This won’t be tonight’s story. Not sure Arsenal or Bayern Munich, Leverkusen’s possible opponents in the last 16, will be too worried on this evidence.

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Updated at 17.10 EST

FULL TIME: Newcastle United 3-2 Qarabag (agg 9-3)

Newcastle United go through to the last 16 in style. Qarabag have salvaged their dignity this evening, though. Everyone going home happy in their own way. Some of them have a shorter journey than others. It’s Chelsea or Barca for the Toon!

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Updated at 17.11 EST

Inter 1-2 Bodø/Glimt (agg 2-5). Bodø/Glimt have done a great job of sucking the air back out of San Siro, which had momentarily re-inflated itself after Bastoni’s scrappy goal. There’s just four minutes of regulation time plus stoppage for the Norwegians to navigate. One of the great giant-killing stories in European Cup / Champions League history coming up!

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Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Olympiacos (agg 2-0). Let’s channel the spirit of 8.26pm GMT. There’s not a lot happening in Germany. The winner of this tie will face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the last 16.

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Inter 1-2 Bodø/Glimt (agg 2-5). To be fair, it was more like a centimetre. Dearie me. Then it looks like Andreas Helmersen is about to break clear on goal to restore that four-goal cushion, but a combination of Manuel Akanji and Yann Sommer puts a stop to his gallop just outside the Inter box. This is wild!

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GOAL! Inter 1-2 Bodø/Glimt (Bastoni 76): agg 2-5

… so having said that, Inter immediately get one back. Only just, though. Some pinball in the Bodø box. Alessandro Bastoni knees the ball weakly goalwards from the middle of a six-yard-box melee. It looks to the naked eye like Nikita Haikin grabs the ball just before it crosses the line. But the automated technology says no. That must have been a matter of millimetres. But they all count! Inter need just the three more now to force extra time.

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Updated at 16.48 EST

Inter 0-2 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-5). This is a proper old-school European smash-and-grab. Soak up the pressure away from home. Keep soaking it up. Then spring forward and land the killer blows. Inter have nothing left. Andy Diouf and Petar Sučić take half-hearted swipes. Blocked and cleared.

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GOAL! Inter 0-2 Bodø/Glimt (Evjen 73): agg 1-5

Jens Petter Hauge curls in from the right touchline. Håkon Evjen takes the ball under his control with one touch, then, without breaking stride, whips an unstoppable shot across Yann Sommer and into the bottom right! What a lovely goal! What a story this is!

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Updated at 16.44 EST

Inter 0-1 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-4). Manuel Akanji nearly makes up – a bit – for his egregious error in the Bodø/Glimt goal, spinning on the penalty spot and whipping a shot off the base of the left-hand post. But this doesn’t look like being Inter’s night. The Norwegians doing a number on the Serie A leaders here.

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Newcastle 3-2 Qarabag (agg 9-3). Newcastle have settled everything down at St James’ Park. Lewis Hall tries to release Anthony Gordon on goal with a defence-splitter down the middle, but there’s a bit too much pace on the pass. Harvey Barnes then tries to round the keeper, but can’t get the ball under proper control.

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Inter 0-1 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-4). A reminder that the winner of this tie – Bodø/Glimt, let’s face it – will play either Manchester City or Sporting Clube de Portugal in the last 16. This is a proper jaw-dropper. Inter were finalists in two of the last three years!

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GOAL! Inter 0-1 Bodø/Glimt (Hauge 58): agg 1-4

It’s been all Inter, all evening, but now look! Jens Petter Hauge, formerly of AC Milan, extends Bodø/Glimt’s lead! He couldn’t miss. Manuel Akanji, fluffs a backpass. Ole Didrik Blomberg steals away with the ball and shoots. Yann Sommer parries, winning the one-on-one duel, but the rebound sits up for Hague, and Inter are stunned!

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Updated at 16.30 EST

Newcastle 3-2 Qarabag (agg 9-3). That double whammy from Qarabag has rattled Newcastle a bit. Sandro Tonali gets involved with Joni Montiel, and is lucky he doesn’t connect when throwing hands. The referee tells them both to grow up.

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GOAL! Newcastle 3-2 Qarabag (Jafarguliyev 57); agg 9-3

Well this is turning into a lot of unexpected fun! Pedro Bicalho advances down the right and crosses low. The ball hits the supporting arm of Dan Burn, sliding in to block. That might not clear the bar for a penalty award in the Premier League, but in Uefa competition, it’s nailed on. Marko Janković takes. Aaron Ramsdale parries brilliantly. However the ball breaks to Elvin Jafarguliyev, just to the left of the six-yard box. Jafarguliyev forces into the near corner and this is game (if not tie) on!

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Updated at 16.26 EST

Newcastle 3-1 Qarabag (agg 9-2). Oh dear, Qarabag have poked the bear. Here comes Anthony Gordon.

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GOAL! Newcastle 3-1 Qarabag (Botman 52); agg 9-2

Newcastle respond to that mild disappointment by going up the other end and re-establishing their two-goal advantage on the night in short order. Kieran Trippier curls a corner in from the right. Sven Botman rises highest, six yards out, and plants a header into the top right. Easy as that!

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Updated at 17.15 EST

GOAL! Newcastle 2-1 Qarabag (Duran 50); agg 8-2

Kevin Medina plays a long pass down the middle. Joni Montiel meets it in the centre circle with a one-touch cushioned volley into Camilo Duran’s path. Duran steams down the inside-right channel, getting ahead of Dan Burn easily, and powerfully slotting into the bottom right from the edge of the box. Aaron Ramsdale with no chance!

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Updated at 16.13 EST

Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). Trippier sends a delicious cross in from the right. Joelintion stoops with a view to steering a header into the bottom left from six yards. He has to score, but instead misses the ball altogether.

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Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). The hosts get the game restarted at St James’ Park, where they’ll play towards the Gallowgate End in this second half. If Newcastle get through, they’ll face either Chelsea or Barcelona in the round of 16.

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Half-time postbag. “I’m not a Bodø/Glimt fan, I’m not even Norwegian, and I kinda like this Inter team, if I’m being honest, but I’m crawling up the walls with stress watching them defend their two-goal lead. Frankly, I thought this tie would be over by now, but they absolutely refuse to die. This feels like a game from another era, maybe the late seventies, when small provincial sides could dream of hoisting ol’ big ears. Every part of my being knows this will end soon, but hope somehow creeps in” – Kári Tulinius

“I know Bodø/Glimt are the underdogs but frankly I expected a bit more from a group of Norwegians at the site of the Winter Olympics. They’re allowing Inter to run Arctic Circles around them” – Peter Oh

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HALF TIME: Internazionale 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3)

The winners of this tie will face either Manchester City or Sporting Clube de Portugal of Lisbon. The Serie A leaders have been the better team, but they’ve still got plenty of work to do if they’re to be in Friday’s draw. And now they’ve only got half the time in which to do it.

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HALF TIME: Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Olympiacos (agg 2-0)

Leverkusen uneventfully take a step closer to a last-16 tie with either Arsenal or Bayern Munich.

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HALF TIME: Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1)

This tie was as good as over eight minutes into the first leg. Tonight’s leg was done and dusted after six. And overall, here we are.

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Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). Camilo Duran sent into a little pocket of space just outside the Newcastle D. He creams a rising shot towards the top right. Aaron Ramsdale extends fully to tip over. That’s fine play all round. Qarabag beginning to finally show how they got here … and how they gave Chelsea a game back in November.

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