Eliteserien, Saturday 19th July
My second game of the day and of this current trip to Norway saw me make my way up the road from my earlier game to watch two of the top teams in Norway as Viking, Stavanger's premier side, welcomed Bodo/Glimt to the Lyse Arena for a very important game at the summit of the division.
Viking were having an excellent season and were once again in with a shout of winning the top division in Norway for the ninth time in their history and the first one in thirty-four years, they had been in with a chance in the last couple of seasons but fell away badly in both towards the back end of those campaigns, although last season they did end up third, qualifying for European Football and the UEFA Conference League.
They currently sat top of the Eliteserien in this current campaign, six points clear of second placed Brann, their bitter rivals from Bergan, and had lost in Bergan last time out, and the latter still had a game in hand too, and they were welcoming a Bodo/Glimt side to Stavanger who themselves were starting to gather some momentum, at kick off they sat in fifth spot some ten points behind the leaders, but with three games in hand.
Bodo are obviously one of the most well known sides in Norway recently after their UEFA Europa League exploits where they became the first Norwegian side to reach the semi finals of any European competition, and lost to eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur over two legs, they are also the current Champions of Norway too after winning the league last season, in fact they have won four of the last five Championships, they have been the best in Norway for a few years now.
Viking though had won in Bodo less than two months ago at the end of May, so they had nothing to fear being the league leaders as well, and in front of a jovial 15,311 crowd, with around a couple of hundred noisy Bodo fans decked out in their bright yellow on a beautiful sunny evening in Norway, everything was set for it to be a clash of the titans and an excellent game to witness, and oh boy we were not disappointed!!!
People were still coming into the stadium and settling down when the opening goal came, around 45 seconds on the clock when Bodo attacked and saw a lovely ball slipped through by Ulrik Saltnes into the path of Hakon Evjen and the latter made no mistake in slotting past home keeper Kristoffer-August Klaesson and giving Bodo the lead.
A stunned home crowd could not believe it, but in just the sixth minute Viking had levelled, Zlatko Tripic, skipper and talisman of the hosts, slipped Kristoffer Haugen, back after a spell with Molde, in down the left hand side, and he crossed into the dangerzone for Peter Christiansen to apply the finishing touch and send the ball past visiting keeper Nikita Haikin, sending the decibel meter up in the stadium as the home fans celebrated a quick response from their side.
They were only celebrating for eight minutes though as after Viking probably should have gone in front, they conceded again when ex player Sondre Auklend, who was booed and whistled every time he touched the ball, set up striker and visiting skipper Kasper Hogh to fire beyond Klaesson and restore the visitors lead.
However, after Bodo had missed an absolute sitter to make it 3-1, Viking went down the other end just before the midway point of the half and won themselves a penalty, and that man Tripic stepped up to bury the spot kick and level the game up at 2-2 after only 22 minutes, it was time for a drinks break for the players, and for everyone to get their breath back after an absolutely bonkers start to this contest!!!
The best thing about this game though was the fact I was watching it with my bro and niece & nephew, so that was nice, I even turned to my bro during this drinks break and said this could finish 5-5, it was that crazy, although the chances of both sides keeping up this frantic pace was low you would think.
Despite the scoreline though, Bodo appeared the better side, they certainly had more of the ball and were looking the more dangerous side, having said that Viking did almost find a third to go in front but Bodo keeper Haikin somehow kept out a powerful header, however, it was Bodo who were to go into the break with a 2-3 lead as seven minutes before half time to restored their lead again after Odin Bjortuft fired home from close range, it had been a breathless half of football, could Viking fight back again or would Bodo finally make all that possession count and see off the league leaders?
Bodo thought they had put daylight between themselves and Viking early in the second half, firstly seeing a close range effort saved by Klaesson, which saw the keeper injure himself and have to be replaced by sub keeper Arild Ostbo, and then moments later find the net with a thumping header that went in off the bar at pace, however, the flag then went up and VAR confirmed the crosser of the ball was a tad offside, a relief to the hosts no doubt.
The game was still in the balance then, and it was Viking's turn to think they had scored and restore parity once again, but no, the flag then went up and again VAR confirmed it was the correct decision as whoever headed the ball back across goal before being volleyed home had strayed a fraction to early, meaning Bodo still held a 3-2 advantage.
What would happen next, well it would see Bodo pretty much seal the contest you felt with a fourth goal with twenty minutes of the ninety to go, another attack saw them burst down the left and a superb ball into the dangerzone ended up coming off the boot of Viking's Joe Bell and beyond keeper Ostbo and into the net, allowing the Bodo players to celebrate in front of their adoring fans at that end.
Viking tried to find a way back into the game in the remaining time available but were always in danger of being countered on, they huffed and puffed but were unable to breach the visitors again who comfortably saw out the game and win what had been an epic encounter in Stavanger, it had certainly lived up to it's pre match hype and had been a joy to witness.
Viking hadn't played that badly if truth be told, but they were just beaten by a better side on the day, and by the same scoreline Viking had triumphed by back in May, so that aggregate score reads 6-6, these two have played out two cracking contests this season for sure, but this one sees Viking lose back to back games now, although Brann lost themselves so the gap remains six points to second place.
However, the charging Bodo are up to third, seven points behind with three games in hand still, so it's in their hands now, a long way to go for sure, pretty much half a season in fact, but if they continue to play the way they did in this contest, they will be pretty hard to stop that's for sure.
Full time Viking 2 Bodo/Glimt 4
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