'We fear nothing' – Bodo boss Knutsen relishing Sporting test

Wait 5 sec.

'We fear nothing' – Bodo boss Knutsen relishing Sporting testShareBodo/Glimt are on the verge of history in the Champions League, but must first get past Sporting CP in their last 16 second leg.Kjetil Knutsen said that Bodo/Glimt will enter their Champions League last 16 second leg with Sporting CP with no fear as they aim to keep their fairytale run going. Bodo arrive at Estadio Jose Alvalade with a comfortable advantage following their 3-0 win in Norway last week, with Sondre Fet, Ole Didrik Blomberg and Kasper Hogh on target. They have now won their last five Champions League matches, becoming only the sixth team from outside Europe's top five leagues to manage to do so. And Bodo will be confident of a result here. They have a 100% record against Portuguese sides in European competition (3/3), with their first leg triumph over Sporting being the third different opponent they have beaten. Bodo are assigned an 87% chance of reaching the quarter-finals by the Opta supercomputer, and Knutsen was in a defiant mood. "We fear nothing. We know that Sporting will start the match with intensity. But I fear nothing. I can't think like that," Knutsen told reporters. "We have to be ready. We will run a lot tomorrow. We are a physical team and in every match we want to run more than the opponent."Bodo are looking to become just the second Norwegian team to reach the quarter-final stage of the European Cup/Champions League, after Rosenborg in the 1996-97 edition.But they have struggled away from home, drawing three of their four league-phase matches on their travels, though their one victory came at LaLiga giants Atletico Madrid. Since that win in the Spanish capital, they have also downed last year's beaten finalists Inter at San Siro in the knockout play-off round last month. "It will be a fantastic challenge for us to see how well we are performing," Bodo midfielder Fet added. "As soon as we start thinking about results, we can become defensive and not ourselves, so we will keep fighting."For Sporting, meanwhile, are looking to overturn a three-goal deficit to progress from a knockout stage tie in major European competition for just the second time, having eliminated Manchester United in the 1963-64 Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals. They are currently on their longest winless run in the knockout stages of a major European competition (six games - D3 L3), and have failed to score in their last three matches. Sporting last failed to find the net in four in a row in September 1982 (four).However, Sporting have won all three of their home matches against Norwegian sides in European competition and kept a clean sheet in all three, though Rui Borges acknowledged the difficulties his team will face against Bodo."We knew [before the first leg] what they were capable of. It isn't only Sporting they beat; they have also defeated [title] contenders," the Sporting boss said."We were more surprised that we weren't able to find a response. It has a lot to do with the intensity with which we approach the task."We have to improve on that front. We have to be more ambitious, courageous and audacious."'We fear nothing' – Bodo boss Knutsen relishing Sporting testBodo/Glimt are on the verge of history in the Champions League, but must first get past Sporting CP in their last 16 second leg.Kjetil Knutsen said that Bodo/Glimt will enter their Champions League last 16 second leg with Sporting CP with no fear as they aim to keep their fairytale run going. Bodo arrive at Estadio Jose Alvalade with a comfortable advantage following their 3-0 win in Norway last week, with Sondre Fet, Ole Didrik Blomberg and Kasper Hogh on target. They have now won their last five Champions League matches, becoming only the sixth team from outside Europe's top five leagues to manage to do so. And Bodo will be confident of a result here. They have a 100% record against Portuguese sides in European competition (3/3), with their first leg triumph over Sporting being the third different opponent they have beaten. Bodo are assigned an 87% chance of reaching the quarter-finals by the Opta supercomputer, and Knutsen was in a defiant mood. "We fear nothing. We know that Sporting will start the match with intensity. But I fear nothing. I can't think like that," Knutsen told reporters. "We have to be ready. We will run a lot tomorrow. We are a physical team and in every match we want to run more than the opponent."Bodo are looking to become just the second Norwegian team to reach the quarter-final stage of the European Cup/Champions League, after Rosenborg in the 1996-97 edition.But they have struggled away from home, drawing three of their four league-phase matches on their travels, though their one victory came at LaLiga giants Atletico Madrid. Since that win in the Spanish capital, they have also downed last year's beaten finalists Inter at San Siro in the knockout play-off round last month. "It will be a fantastic challenge for us to see how well we are performing," Bodo midfielder Fet added. "As soon as we start thinking about results, we can become defensive and not ourselves, so we will keep fighting."For Sporting, meanwhile, are looking to overturn a three-goal deficit to progress from a knockout stage tie in major European competition for just the second time, having eliminated Manchester United in the 1963-64 Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals. They are currently on their longest winless run in the knockout stages of a major European competition (six games - D3 L3), and have failed to score in their last three matches. Sporting last failed to find the net in four in a row in September 1982 (four).However, Sporting have won all three of their home matches against Norwegian sides in European competition and kept a clean sheet in all three, though Rui Borges acknowledged the difficulties his team will face against Bodo."We knew [before the first leg] what they were capable of. It isn't only Sporting they beat; they have also defeated [title] contenders," the Sporting boss said."We were more surprised that we weren't able to find a response. It has a lot to do with the intensity with which we approach the task."We have to improve on that front. We have to be more ambitious, courageous and audacious."