JAKARTA - Manchester City for the second time in a row suffered a defeat in a different competition. After losing 2-0 when facing Manchester United in the English Premier League, Man City was forced to admit the superiority of the weak team Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in the Champions League qualifying match at Aspmyra, Wednesday, January 21, 2026 WIB.
Man City got a disappointing result when visiting Bodo/Glimt's headquarters, Norway. Moreover, manager Pep Guardiola brought down the best squad. Even though he lost Savinho and Jeremy Doku who were injured and a number of other players, including Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, John Stones to Bernardo Silva due to accumulated yellow cards, the composition of Man City's starting line-up remained the best.
The depth of the Man City squad makes Guardiola still hoping to win because there is Erling Haaland who is returning home. Haaland has the support of Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki who came into the spotlight following the defeat in the Manchester Derby. Meanwhile, in the middle there is Rodri and Tijjani Reijnders who try to revive the sector.
However, Man City did not back down against Bodo/Glimt who were in the bottom zone of the Champions League standings. Even the club based in Bodo, a city with only 55 thousand inhabitants or almost the same as the capacity of the Etihad Stadium, the home of Man City, is predicted to be difficult to qualify for the next round of the Champions League. Bodo/Glimt has not been able to break into the playoff zone even though they managed to beat Man City.
The victory brought Bodo/Glimt up to 27th place with six points. They must occupy at least 24th place to get a ticket to the Champions League playoffs.
On the other hand, the defeat in the away game makes Man City wary. The reason is, the 2023 Champions League champion dropped to seventh place with 13 points. If they are thrown out of the top eight, Man City fails to automatically qualify for the last 16.
Last season, The Cityzens also failed to enter the top eight and had to play the playoffs. The trouble is, Man City had to meet Real Madrid and was eliminated in the round.
The defeat means Man City must win the final match of the group stage against Galatasaray, January 28. If they fail again, they are threatened with playing the playoffs again.
"We have to change and play more dynamically in the match against Wolves [Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League] and Galatasaray," Guardiola said in response to Man City's defeat and optimistic about rising in the next two matches.
Guardiola highlighted the absence of a number of players so that the team failed to show consistency. "We lost Savinho and Jeremy on the wings. We also lost players in some sectors. In addition, they are also more consistent and have a neat game organization. Glimt played well and we congratulate them," he said again.
In that match, Guardiola actually prepared the team better. They came early to adjust because they played with a temperature of minus 2 degrees. The team also played on an artificial field so they needed to adapt.
However, Bodo/Glimt was able to surprise Man City. In fact, the hosts were ahead when the match entered the 22nd minute. It started with a mistake by defender Max Alleyne when taking the ball over but failed.
Alleyne's mistake of playing minimally at the highest level because he was previously loaned to a lower division club, Watford, was taken advantage of by Ole Didrik Blomberg. He then released a cross that was greeted by striker Kasper Hogh. Hogh's header successfully conquered goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The 1-0 advantage made the hosts play more aggressively. Not lost to the shock of the Man City players because the goal was conceded, Bodo/Glimt scored again in just two minutes. Hogh for the second time in a row punished Man City. Again Alleyne made a blunder that was again taken advantage of by Blomberg. His cross was successfully finished by Hogh to score a brace. The score changed to 2-0 for the old house.
Man City turned up after conceding twice in less than 25 minutes. Haaland, who returned to his country and successfully led Norway to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, created two chances that could have tied the score. However, his efforts still failed so that the 2-0 score remained until the first half ended.
In the second half, Man City's game did not change. They still had trouble breaking through Bodo/Glimt's defense. Instead of adding a goal, Donnarumma's goal was again conceded when the match was only 13 minutes.
This time winger Jens Hauge solidified the home team's advantage. It started with Rodri's mistake who lost the ball and was successfully controlled by Hauge. He then fired a long shot that slid sharply into the top corner of the goal without being reached by Donnarumma.
Man City actually quickly bounced back to catch up. Cherki managed to overcome Man City's deadlock just two minutes later. The score changed to 3-1.
However, in a situation where a goal is needed, Man City actually lost Rodri. The Spanish national team midfielder committed two consecutive fouls against Hakon Evjen and Blomberg. The fouls that occurred within a span of 54 seconds made Rodri receive two yellow cards followed by a red card in the 62nd minute.
Playing with 10 players makes it difficult for Man City to chase the goal deficit. Moreover, Bodo/Glimt tried to strengthen the defense to win the match.
The result was a 3-1 score for Bodo/Glimt. This was their first victory in the Champions League and a surprise because they were able to defeat the seeded team.
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