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36 min: Ait-Nouri, Lewis and Cherki combine down the right but the young Mancunian loses the ball and Bodo/Glimt are back in possession. They have never won a Champions League match but this would be quite the scalp if they can hang on to their lead. There’s a long way to go yet, mind.
34 min: Manchester City win a free-kick about 10 yards outside the Bodo/Glimt penalty area and play the ball wide instead of getting it into the box. They win a corner and Rayan Cherki sends the ball into the penalty area, where Erling Haaland tries to poke Rodri’s header across the face of goal home from close range but fails to make contact with the ball. It’s a bad miss.
33 min: Bodo/Glimt have been mixing it up nicely in a bid to keep Manchester City on their toes, with their goalkeeper Nikita Haikin kicking long on occasion or electing to play the ball out from the back.
32 min: Ah, the flag went up so that effort wouldn’t have counted if Hogh had scrambled it home.
29 min: Bodo/Glimt come close to scoring a third on the back of some excellent passing football. Hogh is denied at the far post by Donnarumma as he tried to finish a move he’d started – the Bodo/Glimt striker has been linked with a move to Championship side Norwich City and his transfer fee is going up with each passing minute.
25 min: Who saw this coming? The players of Manchester City look completely shellshocked as the stuff of nightmares unfolds. Having made a mistake in the build-up to Hogh’s first goal, Max Alleyne is at fault again, having failed to deal with a bouncing ball before allowing Blomberg to steal it from under his nose, advance upfield and tee up Hogh again. The No9’s finish was excellent, a crisp clip past Donnarumma.
GOAL! Bodo/Glimt 2-0 Manchester City (Hogh 24)
Bodo/Glimt double their lead! It’s a delightful clipped finish from Hogh, who scores his second goal past Donnarumma after his side had carved City open.
GOAL! Bodo/Glimt 1-0 Manchester City (Hogh 22)
Bodo/Glimt lead! The hosts play the ball over the top and it’s stood up for Kasper Hogh by Blomberg at the far post. Unmarked, he leaps to send a downward header through the legs of Gianluigi Donnarumma.
18 min: City switch the play and Ait-Nouri gets on the ball again. He links up with CHerki, who crosses into the Bodo/Glimt penalty area, where it’s blocked by Bjorkan and City appeal for a handball. The defender had his arm by his side and no penalty is forthcoming. Nothing comes from the corner.
17 min: Phil Foden takes another corner, sending the ball deep. Rico Lewis keeps the ball in play and slips it to Rayan Cherki, who is unable to get a shot on target.
15 min: That Alleyne missed header aside, there have been no chances of note for either side so far, although Erling Haaland has had a little lob on target from a narrow angle that didn’t particularly trouble Haikin.
13 min: Rayan Ait-Nouri has been making hay down the right flank for Manchester City, who appear to have targetted Bodo/Glimt left-back Fredrik Bjorkan as a potential weak link. To be fair, given the astronomical financial disparity in the value of these two squads, Bodo/Glimt should not be able to compete with City at all on the man-for-man front.
9 min: Jamie Jackson is the Guardian’s man in Bodo and has sent me these photos of the Northern Lights … and himself.
7 min: Bodo/Glimt advance again but Ole Blomberg coughs up cheap possession to Nico O’Reilly.
5 min: City win their first corner of the game after good work from Rayans Ait-Nouri and Cherki, the latter forcing a save from Nikita Haikin. Phil Foden’s inswinger is on a plate for Max Alleyne, just four yards out but the young defender makes a dog’s breakfast of his header and barely connects with the ball.
3 min: There’s an early fright for City, as Bodo/Glimt get the ball forward courtesy of Jens Hauge and force a good block before their visitors can scramble the ball clear.
1 min: Tijani Reijnders loses the ball to Odin Bjortoft early doors as Manchester City advance into the Bodo/Glimt half. Somewhat surprisingly, Nico O’Reilly has lined at left-back for Manchester City, while Rayan Ait-Nouri is on the right.
Bodo/Glimt v Manchester City is go ...
1 min: Bodo/Glimt get the ball rolling, their players wearing yellow shirts, shorts and socks. The players of Manchester City are kitted out in dark green.
Not long now: The pre-match pyrotechnics concluded, German referee Sven Jablonski and his team of match officials lead both sets of players out on to the pitch as the Champions League anthem blares out over the Tannoy. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes and the last of the pre-match niceties away.
Erling Haaland: Having grown up in Bryne, a mere 1,948 kilometres south of Bodo, this represents something of a homecoming for the Manchester City striker. The 25-year-old has scored five goals in the Champions League this season and will be hoping to add to his tally following an extremely fallow period in which he has scored just one goal, a penalty against Brighton, in his last seven games in all competitions.
Marc Guehi: The England defender completed a £20m move to Manchester City from Crystal Palace yesterday, with Pep Guardiola describing him as a high-class defender who is the “perfect age” and will provide an immediate boost owing to injuries. Sadly, the boost won’t be as immediate as Pep would like because his new recruit is ineligible to play against Bodo/Glimt. Jamie Jackson reports from just north of the Arctic Circle …
Tonight’s match officials
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Referee: Sven Jablonski
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Referee’s assistants: Eduard Betinger and Robert Kempter
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Fourth Official: Tobias Reichter
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VAR: Robert Schroder
Manchester City: Pep Guardiola makes four changes to the team that lost at Old Trafford, with Rayan Ait-Nouri in for his start since returning from international duty with Algeria at Afcon. Nico O’Reilly, Tijani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki also come into the side, with Nathan Ake, Bernardo Silva, Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku making way. Phil Foden stays in the side despite breaking his hand in the game against Manchester United.
Bodo/Glimt v Manchester City line-ups
Bodo/Glimt: Haikin, Sjovold, Bjortuft, Gundersen, Bjorkan, Evjen, Berg, Fet, Blomberg, Hogh, Hauge.
Subs: Lund, Nielsen, Aleesami, Auklend, Saltnes, Helmersen, Klynge, Riisnaes, Maatta, Sjong, Chooly.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Lewis, Khusanov, Alleyne, Ait Nouri, Reijnders, Rodri, O’Reilly, Foden, Haaland, Cherki.
Subs: Bettinelli, Trafford, Ake, Marmoush, Doku, Gray, Mukasa, Mfuni, Noble, Samba.
Early team news
City are enduring something of a crisis at the back which they have attempted to alleviate by signing Marc Guehi but like his fellow new recruit, Antoine Semenyo, the former Crystal Palace defender is ineligible to play in the Champions League until the knockout stages.
With John Stones, Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias all ruled out, Pep Guardiola may persist with his centre-back pairing of Abdokodir Khushanov and Max Alleyne, who were outstanding against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup last week but far less impressive against Manchester United on Saturday.
Oscar Bobb, Mateo Kovacic, Nico Gonzalez and Savinho are also unavailable due to injury, while Bernardo Silva is suspended and if selected, Phil Foden will play with a protective cast on a broken hand. Omar Marmoush has travelled with the squad after returning from Afcon.
Bodo/Glimt are without centre-back Haitam Aleesemi, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury. His fellow defender Jostein Gundersen is available for selection after serving the suspension he received for being sent off in his side’s match against Monaco.
Champions League: Bodo/Glimt v Manchester City
With just three points from their six games thus far and yet to notch up a win in this season’s Champions League, Bodo/Glimt welcome Manchester City to the Aspmyra Stadion, needing all three points to keep alive any faint hopes they still have of making the knockout stages. Kjetil Knutsen’s side currently sit 32nd in the league standings with just two games left and are playing out of season, the Norwegian Eliteserien having finished in November with Viking pipping them to the title by just one point. While their players will be fresh, they are unlikely to be match fit after playing just two friendlies in preparation for this encounter.
City come into this match on the back of last Saturday’s near humiliation at the hands of their bitter rivals Manchester United and need a win to maintain their push for the top eight finish that would see them straight into the Round of 16. No strangers to bad weather, they will be playing in sub-zero temperatures on an artificial pitch tonight, with the forecast for kick-off being -1° that will apparently feel nearer to -7°. Kick-off in Bodo is at 5.45pm (GMT) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
