In European soccer, as with most sports, rivalries are usually established by proximity — two clubs, a few miles apart, battle for control of the city. Sometimes these teams come from competing cities or even rival regions.
This season there is a rivalry that destroys every preconceived geographic boundary. Instead of coming from two sides of the same country, these clubs hail from opposite ends of the continent.
More than 2,300 miles separate Bodø, a mid-sized Norwegian town 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle, from the Italian capital of Rome, but this hasn't prevented Bodø/Glimt and AS Roma from becoming two of the biggest rivals in European football during the last six months.
The tension began back in October. Glimt, the upstart Norwegian champions, hosted José Mourinho's Roma in a group stage game in the newly-formed UEFA Europa Conference League. Playing on an artificial pitch in frigid temperatures, the home side dismantled the Serie A club, 6-1.
The Portuguese manager was furious with his players, which he expressed while also including a subtle dig at the quality of Norwegian football: "Among you, there are people who would not even play here in Norway, or even in Serie B," Mourinho said of his squad after the defeat.
When the sides faced off again two weeks later, Mourinho tasked his strongest XI with defending the Stadio Olimpico. Glimt held up again, twice taking the lead before settling for a 2-2 draw.
This time, Mourinho turned to the referees for his excuses.
"You can talk about whatever you want, but the reality is 2-2," Mourinho said. "They had two shots on target and two goals. We scored two goals and had two clear penalties denied.
"I don’t know if they get referees who are poor and starting their careers for the Conference League. I didn’t say anything about the referee in Norway, because we lost 6-1, but here the two penalties were clear."
The two sides finished first and second in their Conference League group (Roma won the group), and both advanced to the knockout stage. That seemed to be the end of the friction.
As the competition progressed, Glimt and Roma continued to win, and, to the surprise of everyone, the quarterfinal draw reunited the continental adversaries once again.
After previously praising his opposite number, Bodø/Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen acknowledged the first sign of conflict with Mourinho.
“Perhaps my rapport with Mourinho has deteriorated a little since the first match,” Knutsen divulged before the first leg of the UECL quarterfinal. “I have incredible respect for him and all he achieved in the world of football, but we’re probably quite different people. We come from different cultures; he is one of the most successful coaches in the world, and I can only respect that. He was very kind, congratulating us after the first game. He protects his players, and it’s fascinating to observe him close up.”
Knutsen continued with an observation about how his club was treated differently than Roma.
“It’s funny, at times the fourth official stands there to make sure I never leave my technical area, whereas five or six Roma men leap off the bench and chase after the assistant referee with no consequences," Knutsen said. "In a way, it was amusing to notice how different people are treated in a different way. We always try to be polite; that is an important value to have in life.”
Tensions slowly simmered beneath the surface and then finally boiled over following the first leg in Bodø. Glimt came back from a goal down to score twice in the second half — including an 89th-minute winner from Hugo Vetlesen — to head into the second leg with a one-goal advantage.
There was significant chirping between both benches throughout the 90 minutes, which led to a physical altercation between Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen and Roma goalkeeper coach Nuno Santos in the tunnel after the final whistle.
Both clubs blamed the other for provoking the incident.
"Knutsen started saying something to our goalkeeping coach and then attacked him," Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini said. "It was an unpleasant incident for the competition and for fair-play. I'm disappointed because we came here with respect, but incidents like this are an insult to Roma and to the competition. It's shameful."
Glimt gave a more detailed description of what occurred. Per a statement from the club, the conflict began when: "The goalkeeping coach of Roma positioned himself illegally outside the coaching staff, where he continuously verbally and gesturingly harassed Knutsen. Glimt made the fourth referee and UEFA's delegate aware of this on several occasions. The complaints were not heeded and Roma's goalkeeping coach was allowed to continue his behavior unhindered."
“Everything culminated in a physical attack on me in the player tunnel," Knutsen said. "Usually I'm so by nature that I would withdraw. In this case, I was physically attacked. He grabbed me by the neck and pushed me into the wall. It is only natural that I then had to defend myself."
The Norwegian side also added that it sent video of the incident to UEFA, which it hopes will be made public, and it accused Roma of hiding the truth.
"Roma is bombarding the media with untruths in an attempt to hide the unsportsmanlike behaviour. Glimt knows that there is a video of the incident, which shows the attack on Knutsen from representatives of Roma's support staff."
Mourinho, in his usual manner, deflected attention away from the altercation, talking instead about Glimt's artificial pitch and the incompetence of the officials.
"To be honest, the thing that worries me the most is the injury for Mancini," Mourinho said. "It’s a concern; it’s something caused by playing on a plastic turf.
"When we played in Rome against them, there were two very clear penalties for us that the referee did not see, while today there were two moves that were flagged offside and the first half ended with a ridiculous situation as the offside flag was up on a throw-in, which shows you the level."
His only comments about the incident came over the weekend following a verbal dust-up during Roma's league match against Salernitana — albeit one that did not end in a physical quarrel.
"We are civilized people, what happens on the field ends there," Mourinho mused. "Nobody will be waiting outside 45 minutes later to punch someone in the face."
The Roma manager offered an apology for the domestic incident but did not directly speak about the occurrences in Norway a few days earlier.
UEFA began a full investigation into the incident; in the meantime, both Knutsen and Santos were suspended for the second leg for "conduct which is insulting or otherwise violates the basic rules of decent conduct."
Knutsen admitted the altercation made him question his future as a coach.
"It is on a level that I have considered whether I should continue with this," he said. "It is so far from my, the club's and Norwegian football's values. Such things can make me want to do something completely different. For me, the most important thing is to be able to see myself in the mirror. If it's at the expense of it, I have to consider whether it's actually worth it. This game costs a lot."
On Monday, it was reported that Roma offered their artificial training pitch to their Norwegian opponent. Glimt declined the goodwill gesture and will instead be training at Lazio's facilities — Roma's crosstown rival.
The second leg of the quarterfinal, which is hosted at the Stadio Olimpico, will be contested Thursday. Glimt holds a narrow one-goal advantage in what figures to be the tense climax of the most unexpected of rivalries.
