BODO, Norway :Tottenham Hotspur needed an 89th-minute own goal to salvage a point at Bodo/Glimt, battling back from two goals down to draw 2-2 on Tuesday in the first Champions League game ever played inside the Arctic Circle.
The Premier League side spent much of the game on the back foot, but they held the home side at bay and dug deep late on to snatch a point.
Richarlison wasted an early chance to give Tottenham the lead, getting the ball caught in his feet with the goal at his mercy after a superb break down the left by Lucas Bergwall, but after that the Norwegian champions took over.
Glimt should have taken the lead from the spot when fullback Fredrik Bjorkan was clattered in the box by Rodrigo Bentancur, but after having a penalty saved in his side’s 2-2 draw with Slavia Prague in their first Champions League game, Kasper Hogh skied this one over the bar.
That ensured the first half finished scoreless, but Jens Petter Hauge made no mistake after the break as he curled home a superb shot in the 53rd minute.
Tottenham hit back immediately through Bentancur but the goal was ruled out for a foul in the build-up by captain Micky van de Ven and they were soon two down when Hauge struck again, this time with a left-footed effort in the 66th minute to make it 2-0.
SPURS COMEBACK
Van de Ven pulled a goal back with a header two minutes later but Spurs continued to struggle, and when Wilson Odobert headed the ball onto the angle of the crossbar and post the hosts looked to be heading for a famous victory.
They were undone by a slice of bad luck as goalkeeper Nikita Haikin blocked a shot that bounced off substitute Jostein Gundersen, who had only come on two minutes earlier, and the ball flew into the net for a late equaliser.
“I think the mentality and the character of the players was very good, (they) stayed in the game, kept fighting, and that gave us a very good point away from home,” Tottenham’s Danish coach Thomas Frank told TNT Sports.
Glimt goalscorer Hauge enjoyed the game but was disappointed with the late twist. “It was fun today, (but) it’s a bit strange to stand here with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth,” he said.
Team captain Patrick Berg felt the same. “A bit of a mixed feeling. It’s a bit poor when we’ve led 2-0, then we slip a bit, (but) at the same time, we can be very proud of a lot of what we achieved.”
