Biggest mismatch in Champions League history? Bodø/Glimt head to Italy to upset the odds

Bodø/Glimt 3-1 Inter Milan 

Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt will look to make history on Tuesday and with it send shockwaves throughout European football. The Eliteserien side, aptly nicknamed Superlaget (“the Super Team”) will make the daunting trip to the San Siro to face Inter Milan in the second round of their Champions League knock-out tie. To the surprise of many, Kjetil Knutsen’s team picked up a very impressive 3-1 victory in front of their own fans, when they overcame a 1-1 draw at half-time to take an impressive lead to Italy, following goals from Jens Petter Hauge and Kasper Høgh.

While the Norwegian side have built up something of a reputation for causing upsets at their stadium, when opposing teams reluctantly make the trip north of the Arctic Circle, the first-leg win over Inter undoubtedly puts Bodø/Glimt on the cusp of reaching new heights in European football. Knutsen’s side are well versed in Europa League success, having reached the semi-finals of the competitions last season, but should they do enough in Italy on Tuesday to win the tie it will be the first time in the club’s history that they’ve won a knock-out tie in the Champions League. And, to no great surprise, it could prove to be one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history too.

Indeed, when we tally up the biggest mismatches in the history of the top-tier European competition based on the difference in market values between the two clubs in any given knock-out tie, we find that Tuesday’s clash between Bodø/Glimt and Inter is actually the sixth biggest mismatch in terms of squad market values in Champions League history. As we can see in the table above, Inter’s squad market value of €667.3 million and Bodø/Glimt’s squad market value of just €57.1m means there is a €610.2m difference in perceived quality between the players Knutsen has at his disposal and his opposite number, Cristian Chivu, can call upon.

Such is the David vs Goliath aspect of this tie that our data suggests that there hasn’t been such a difference in squad market values between two teams in the knock-out rounds of the Champions League since the 2023/24 season, when Lazio vs Bayern Munich (€734.8m) took third place on the ranking and Porto vs Arsenal (€857.9m) claimed top spot that season. In both instances, the more valuable squads went on to win the ties. However, Lyon did claim a big win for the perceived underdogs in the 2019/20 season, when the Ligue 1 club overcame Manchester City in the quarter-finals despite having a squad that had €701.2m less in market value than their English counterparts.