Napoli vs Bodø/Glimt 4-3 - Champions League Matchday 3 Match Report

Napoli and Bodø/Glimt met at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in the UEFA Champions League league phase, and the shape of the match explained the scoreline far better than the bare numbers do. Bodø/Glimt went down to 4-3 and spent the remainder of the evening trying to pull the game back. The turning point came at the 1 minute mark, when Matteo Politano scored cleanly, and everything that followed was played in that new landscape. Napoli won 4-3 and carried the points home. 35096 supporters filled Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, and the noise never really left the players alone. Neither side arrived in the best form: the last five results read W D W L L for Napoli and L W W W W for Bodø/Glimt, and both sets of players knew what a slip would cost.

Match facts

• Date: 2026-10-20
• Kick-off: 19:00 UTC
• Venue: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Napoli, Italy (54726)
• Attendance: 35096
• Referee: José María Sánchez Martínez (Spain)
• Competition: UEFA Champions League 2026/2027 - Matchday 3
• Starting line-ups: Napoli (4-3-3, Coach: Massimiliano Allegri) / Bodø/Glimt (4-3-3, Coach: Kjetil Knutsen)
• Scorers: Matteo Politano 1'; Scott McTominay 41'; Scott McTominay 75'; Odin Lurås Bjørtuft (own goal) 88'; Jens Petter Hauge 27'; Andreas Helmersen 62'; Sondre Brunstad Fet 90+4'

Napoli lined up with Alex Meret, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Rafa Marín, Leonardo Spinazzola, Frank Anguissa, Kevin De Bruyne, Scott McTominay, Matteo Politano, Rasmus Højlund, Noa Lang in a 4-3-3, while Bodø/Glimt answered with Nikita Haikin, Fredrik Sjøvold, Jostein Gundersen, Odin Lurås Bjørtuft, Fredrik André Bjørkan, Sondre Auklend, Patrick Berg, Sondre Brunstad Fet, Ole Blomberg, Andreas Helmersen, Jens Petter Hauge in a 4-3-3. Massimiliano Allegri and Kjetil Knutsen led their respective sides from the touchline, and both had a plan for the first hour that they wanted to keep intact.

Goals and key moments

Goal details, minutes and scorers are the part of the record that separate one evening from another. At the 1' mark, Matteo Politano scored cleanly, with Leonardo Spinazzola supplying the pass that made it possible, and 1-0 was the consequence. It was a chance worth 0.115 expected goals, which is exactly why it was worth taking. 27': Jens Petter Hauge found the far corner, Sondre Brunstad Fet helping it over the line, and it was 1-1 almost immediately. 41': Scott McTominay kept the composure the moment demanded, Kevin De Bruyne helping it over the line, and it was 2-1 almost immediately. 62': Andreas Helmersen turned the move into the opening the team had been chasing, Sondre Brunstad Fet helping it over the line, and it was 2-2 almost immediately. 75': Scott McTominay struck it with quality, Matteo Politano helping it over the line, and it was 3-2 almost immediately. 88': Odin Lurås Bjørtuft scored cleanly, helping it over the line, and it was 4-2 almost immediately. 90+4': Sondre Brunstad Fet found the far corner, Odin Lurås Bjørtuft helping it over the line, and it was 4-3 almost immediately. That strike changed the temperature of the evening: from that point the leading side could play for the counter while the chasing side had to take risks in the spaces that had opened up. Not every opening was taken, though, and the chances that were missed told their own story. Taken together, the goals gave the evening a shape that the scoreline on its own never explained.

The tactical picture

Napoli started in 4-3-3 under Massimiliano Allegri, while Bodø/Glimt answered with 4-3-3 under Kjetil Knutsen, and those two shapes decided most of what happened on the field. Neither manager was willing to hand the central ground over for free, and the shape of the game followed that refusal. The midfield was the part of the pitch both sides wanted, and the numbers show who managed to take it. The side that pressed high won the second ball, which left the other team unable to build from the back and forced them into hopeful passes. The width of the pitch worked against the team that kept attacking down the same flank, and they were closed down every time. Transitions were the story: one side moved the ball forward at speed, the other could not. The tactical conversation between the two benches was as much a part of the evening as the movement of the ball itself.

Tactical reading

Napoli set up in a 4-3-3 against the 4-3-3 of Bodø/Glimt, and the two shapes decided how the ball actually moved: Napoli completed 491 passes at 90% accuracy while Bodø/Glimt answered with 658 and 91%. The duel numbers underline the same story, as Napoli won 40 duels against 29 for Bodø/Glimt, completed 15 tackles to 8 and read 6 passes compared with 4.

Statistical comparison

The statistical picture is as revealing as the scoreline itself. Expected goals told the sharper story: 1.53 for Napoli against 2.67 for Bodø/Glimt. Napoli attempted 17 shots to Bodø/Glimt's 15, with 8 on target against 6. Possession finished at 43 per cent for Napoli against 57 per cent for Bodø/Glimt, and it is worth noting which side actually used it. Napoli won 2 corners to Bodø/Glimt's 5, and that is where most of the set-piece danger came from. Napoli completed 441 of 491 passes against 601 of 658 for Bodø/Glimt, a difference that shows how differently the two sides circulated the ball. Fouls were committed 7 times by Napoli and 5 by Bodø/Glimt, with 0 and 0 red cards in the official count. The goalkeepers made 3 and 5 saves respectively, and on a night like this that work decides how the result is remembered. The duels went 40 to 29, which is usually the cleanest single indicator of who was prepared to spend effort on the ball. Tackles were completed 15 times by Napoli and 8 by Bodø/Glimt, and the duels that followed tell the same story as the rest of the evening.

Discipline and substitutions

Discipline and substitutions shaped the second half more than the scoreline suggests. Napoli collected 3 yellow cards and Bodø/Glimt 0, and the caution count of 3 in total meant the referee had to manage a game that was becoming increasingly physical around the halfway line. Both coaches used their changes: 4 by Napoli and 5 by Bodø/Glimt, with the last substitution of the evening coming late. The emotional temperature of the evening rose and fell with the challenges and with the decisions taken by both benches. José María Sánchez Martínez took charge of the match and had a relatively straightforward evening by the standards of the competition.

Player of the match and the standout performers

Individual performances separated the two teams across a full ninety minutes. Scott McTominay of Napoli was the player of the match with a rating of 9.2, and every touch that mattered carried his name on it. For Napoli, the best individual rating belonged to Scott McTominay, and for Bodø/Glimt it belonged to Sondre Brunstad Fet. The gap between the best performances on each side was the reason the result never really looked as comfortable as it was. Across the two squads the highest individual ratings read Scott McTominay (9.16), Sondre Brunstad Fet (9.05), Kevin De Bruyne (8.55), Matteo Politano (8.54).

What the result means for the league phase

Napoli on points from 3 matches, in 22 place with a goal difference of -2, and Bodø/Glimt on points from 3 matches, in 28 place with a goal difference of -5. Napoli arrived with W D W L L in their last five and Bodø/Glimt with L W W W W, so the result fits the run both of them have been on. For the winner the three points are banked and the group is a shade closer to settled; for the other side the work still to be done, and this result has made that plain. What the numbers cannot show is how hard the result was worked for, and how differently the two sides will remember it. The next round of the league phase will tell more: whoever adjusts first in the coming days will be the one who controls the group.