It was supposed to be a standard night in European football since the third set of group fixtures in the Europa League largely pitted stronger sides against much weaker clubs.
What followed proved anything but with some surprise results and, in one case, something of humiliation for Italian giants Roma and a two-time European Cup winner in Norway.
It is with the Norwegian champions where we start.
I am happy to tell you that the first I knew of the scoreline was when it flashed up on the phone of a former English Premier League star left him staggered.
For manager Jose Mourinho, who has enjoyed success in this competition, this must rank as one of his most miserable nights even if the damage will likely prove minimal given the group stage allows for setbacks.
This should not detract, though, from the efforts of Bodo/Glimt as they humbled their more illustrious opponents.
It was the first time a team under Mourinho’s stewardship had conceded six times in a single game in what was the 1,008th match of his coaching career – sitting alongside the 5-0 loss his Real Madrid side suffered against Barcelona in 2010.
It prompted comments from the club owner against the media and created a story which shocked European football.
I’d love to have seen the SBOTOP Europa League 2021 betting odds on such a scoreline.
Let’s park AS Roma though and drink in the wonderful story of Bodo/Glimt, whose story is truly wonderful.
Perhaps we should not be that surprised because after winning their initial 10 games, Glimt have only lost twice all season – 3-2 against AC Milan at the San Siro in a Europa League qualifier and 4-2 at deposed champions Molde four games ago.
On top of that, they are on course for a whole host of records in the Norwegian league, including most points, most goals, and most wins in a season and the biggest winning margin.
Pause for thought for their fans, however.
Only 200 supporters were allowed into games at the start of the season which rose to 600 fans last month – meaning well below their 3,000 average from last term were able to witness their 6-1 demolition of Roma in person.
Elsewhere, West Ham took a significant stride towards the knockout stage with victory over Genk. Lyon edged a seven-goal thriller at Sparta Prague while Serie A leaders Napoli left it late to see off Polish side Lega Warsaw.
Furthermore, Marseille held Lazio – who are fresh from beating Italian champions Inter Milan – in Rome in the big match of the night.
If the story of the week emerged from Norway, the player of the week was just as surprising as a largely unknown player by the name of Patson Daka created his own personal Europa League 2021 highlights.
This time last week I had barely heard of him.Then he came off the bench to set up one and score the final goal for Leicester City in their Premier League win over Manchester United.
To then score all of his side’s goals in Moscow against Spartak – four goals in just over half an hour – was remarkable.
There has been excitement about the Zambian in the East Midlands since the moment last season’s Austrian Bundesliga player of the season opted to switch to Leicester in the summer. Yet no one expected a four-goal haul at this stage.
It took the 23 year-old five competitive appearances to find his first goal – that bundled late fourth against United last weekend – but having now broken that duck he looks unwilling to stop scoring.
All four of his finishes displayed the ruthlessness of his new team-mate Jamie Vardy in their clinical simplicity, with the third and fourth in particular, showing an ability to hang on the shoulder of the last defender before pouncing on a through-ball much like the former England forward.
Impressively, it is the second time he has netted four goals in a game in a little over a year, also doing so for Salzburg in a 10-0 Austrian Cup win over SW Bregenz in September 2020.
Maybe, just maybe, a new star is being born.
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