San Siro, the “Graveyard” of Italian Football

WEDNESDAY, MILAN – Milan's San Siro Stadium is no longer worthy of being called the cattedrale del calcio, or cathedral of Italian football, but rather the cimitero del calcio, or tomb of football. In that iconic arena, the ambitions of two Italian teams have been dashed in the past three months.

The Italian public witnessed a poor performance when they saw their national team humiliated 1-4 by Norway in the final match of the 2026 World Cup qualifying group stage, last November 2025. This result forced Italy to take the playoff route to compete for the remaining ticket to North America, next summer.

Three months later, it was Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt's turn to eliminate Italy's current top team, Inter Milan. Bodo/Glimt defeated Inter 2-1 in the second leg of the 2025-2026 Champions League playoffs on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, early morning WIB.

"I Nerazzurri" suffered an aggregate defeat of 2-5 against the Norwegian club. Inter's performance has significantly declined compared to their achievement of reaching the final in the 2024-2025 edition. In fact, Inter was a finalist in that prestigious European club competition in two of the previous three editions.

Inter needed three goals to overturn a 3-1 deficit from last week's home draw at Bodo/Glimt. Inter's performance in front of over 70,000 home fans at the San Siro proved disastrous.

A mistake by center-back Manuel Akanji initiated the goal from Bodo/Glimt's winger, Jens Petter Hauge, in the 58th minute. Hauge, a former AC Milan player, capitalized on the rebound from Inter's goalkeeper, Yann Sommer, against another winger from the visiting team, Ole Didrik Blomberg.

In the 72nd minute, Bodo/Glimt midfielder, Hakon Evjen, scored with his first shot after receiving a cross from Hauge. Evjen ran into the space between two Inter defenders to perfectly meet his teammate's pass.

Alessandro Bastoni, the Inter defender, managed to score a goal from a corner kick situation three minutes after Bodo/Glimt's second goal. However, this effort did not succeed in boosting the morale and fighting spirit of Inter to add to their tally in the remaining duration of the game.

"We tried to turn the situation around in every way possible. We held on and fought until the last minute, but we couldn't achieve our goal. We're disappointed, but tomorrow is a new day," Inter defender Yann Bisseck told Inter TV.

Inter coach Cristian Chivu stated that his team struggled to break down and find gaps in the organized play of Bodo/Glimt. However, Chivu acknowledged that his players had put in maximum effort to win.

"We failed to score a goal that would have been a psychological boost for them. I have no complaints about the players. In the second half, Bodo had more energy than us," Chivu said, as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

With the elimination of Inter, Italy faces the possibility of reaching a low point in its participation in the Champions League. The "Espresso Nation" may not have a representative in the round of 16 of the Champions League for the first time.

Italy's hopes rest on Juventus and Atalanta, who will play their second game on Thursday (26/2/2026) early morning WIB. However, their path is more challenging as they face opponents who are far more experienced in the Champions League compared to Bodo/Glimt.

Juve began the second match at the Allianz Arena trailing 2-5 against Galatasaray. Meanwhile, Atalanta welcomed Borussia Dortmund at the Gewiss Stadium after losing 0-2 in Germany.

In addition, Inter's situation as the top of the Serie A standings increasingly reflects the decline in the quality of Italian teams on the continental stage. The Nerazzurri are unstoppable in domestic competition, leading by 10 points over their closest rival, AC Milan.

Nicolo Barella, the midfielder of Inter, acknowledged the disappointment overshadowing the Inter squad after being eliminated from the Champions League. Inter's next focus, Barella continued, is to ensure that they do not relinquish the Serie A and Coppa Italia trophies.

"Naturally, our main target is the Scudetto. However, we always strive to be competitive in all competitions," said Barella, who wore the captain's armband in the second match against Bodo/Glimt.

The absence of Lautaro Martinez and Hakan Calhanoglu due to injury has resulted in Inter's attack becoming overly monotonous. They are very dominant in initiating attacks from both wings, occupied by Federico Dimarco on the left and Luis Henrique on the right.

Bodo/Glimt players were not hesitant to anticipate the crosses from the two Inter players. As a result, the accuracy of Inter's crosses only reached 40 percent. Only 19 accurate crosses out of 47 crosses were delivered by Inter players.

Meanwhile, Bodo/Glimt has reached the round of 16 in the Champions League for the first time. They will face Manchester City or Sporting Lisbon in the next phase.

The last time a Norwegian representative reached the knockout stage of the Champions League was in the 1996-1997 season. At that time, Rosenborg was eliminated by Juventus in the quarter-finals.

"This is a phenomenal night for the club, the fans and Norwegian football," said Bodo/Glimt coach Kjetil Knutsen, as reported on the UEFA website.

Despite achieving a historic victory at San Siro, Knutsen believes his players did not perform perfectly. Playing worse in the first half, the Bodo/Glimt squad improved after the break.

"I think we clearly looked scared and worried in the first half. Defensively, we played well, but we were not bold enough in controlling the ball. As the match progressed, we were able to control the game better in the second half and scored two goals in our typical style," said Knutsen.

Three other teams advanced to the round of 16. They are Atletico Madrid, which defeated Club Brugge 4-1, thus leading with an aggregate score of 7-4. Additionally, Newcastle United and Leverkusen managed to maintain their advantages from the first leg. (REUTERS)