Five-star Sporting stage fightback to sink Bodo/Glimt and reach quarter-finals

LISBON, March 17 : Sporting staged a stunning comeback to end Bodo/Glimt's fairytale Champions League run, thrashing the Norwegian side 5-0 after extra time on Tuesday to reach the quarter-finals with a 5-3 aggregate victory in their last-16 tie.

Trailing 3-0 from the first leg in Norway, Sporting attacked from the kickoff and went ahead in the 34th minute when Goncalo Inacio headed in from Francisco Trincao's corner.

The visitors struck the crossbar before halftime, but Sporting scored again when Pedro Goncalves swept in Luis Suarez's cross in the 61st minute and levelled the tie when Suarez converted a spot kick in the 78th after a VAR handball review.

Sporting needed less than two minutes of extra time to score the fourth as Maxi Araujo slotted in, with substitute Rafael Nel adding a fifth in added time, sending the back-to-back Portuguese champions through.

"We always believed that, with the help of this amazing crowd, we would be able to make it," Araujo told reporters. "It was amazing, we put on a great effort and that paid off. I'm so proud of this group and happy to have helped give the fans a night to remember."  

Bodo had beaten Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan twice in a remarkable run of results before comfortably winning the first leg against Sporting in Norway.

Yet roared on by a raucous crowd, Sporting came flying out of the gate and fashioned 11 attempts in the opening 15 minutes but squandered three clear chances, with Trincao twice missing from close range and Goncalves misfiring a volley as the hosts laid siege to the Bodo goal.

INACIO STARTS THE COMEBACK

Their breakthrough arrived in the 34th minute. Trincao swung in a corner from the right and Inacio climbed above his markers to power a