Tiny Bodø/Glimt wins again in Champions League to set up potential playoff with Real Madrid

Tiny Bodø/Glimt is making a big splash in the Champions League and after back-to-back upsets over Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, it has set up a possible showdown with Real Madrid.

A 2-1 comeback win at Atletico on Wednesday saw the Norwegian club scrape into the playoffs. It means it will play either record 15-time European champion Madrid or last year’s losing finalist Inter Milan.

“The feeling is enormous, I am so incredibly proud,” Bodø/Glimt coach Kjetil Knutsen said. “I’m not going to compare it to anything, but we do what we do. We should be extremely proud of that. Achievements stand on their own.”

And given its habit of pulling off stunning upsets in Europe’s elite club competition, Madrid and Inter are unlikely to relish a two-legged tie against the team that’s located north of the Arctic Circle — farther north than any in Champions League history.

It was the second time in as many weeks that Bodø/Glimt has pulled off a shock result, following the 3-1 win against Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s players were so apologetic to their fans that they refunded ticket costs for supporters who traveled to the match.

Despite that win, Bodø/Glimt needed to repeat it to secure a place in the top 24 of the standings in its first season in the Champions League.

And despite falling behind to Alexander Sørloth’s first-half goal, it rallied through Fredrik Sjøvold and Kasper Høgh to seal 23rd place.

Its reward is the potential of a clash with all-time king of Europe, Madrid, which dropped into the playoffs after losing 4-2 to former coach Jose Mourinho and Benfica.

Inter — a two-time finalist in the last three seasons — is also in the playoffs.

Should Bodø/Glimt pull off another unlikely win, it would face the possibility of a rematch with City or Sporting Lisbon in the round of 16.

It is turning into a spectacular debut in the competition for the Norwegians from the fishing town of Bodø, located more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Oslo and with a population of around 55,000.

Brutal winter conditions and its artificial playing field at its 8,000-capacity Aspmyra stadium have helped it pull off shock wins against famous opponents like Roma, Lazio and Porto before the biggest upset of the lot against City last week.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

CORRECTS ID: Glimt’s Fredrik Sjovold, right, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Bodo Glimt in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

CORRECTS ID: Glimt’s Fredrik Sjovold celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Bodo Glimt in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

CORRECTS ID: Glimt’s Fredrik Sjovold celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Bodo Glimt in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Bodo Glimt players celebrate at the end of the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Bodo Glimt in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Glimt's Kasper Hogh, center, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Bodo Glimt in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who once escaped custody and spent three days on the run after being sentenced to death for fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend was put to death Wednesday, becoming the first person executed in the United States this year.

Charles Victor Thompson, 55, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CST following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the April 1998 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip, 39, and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, 30, at the woman's suburban Houston apartment.

In his final words, Thompson asked the families of his victims to find it in their hearts to forgive him, adding “that you can begin to heal and move past this.”

“There are no winners in this situation,” he said after a spiritual adviser prayed over him for about 3 minutes and shortly before a lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered. He said his execution “creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28 years later.”

“I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry for what happened, and I want to tell all of y’all, I love you and that keep Jesus in your life, keep Jesus first,” he added.

As the injection began taking effect, Thompson gasped loudly, then took about a dozen breaths that evolved into three snores. Then all movement ceased and he was pronounced dead 22 minutes later.

“He’s in hell,” one of the witnesses, Dennis Cain — whose son was killed — said after Thompson was declared dead by a physician.

Previously in court, prosecutors had said Thompson and Hayslip had been romantically involved for a year but split after Thompson “became increasingly possessive, jealous and abusive.”

According to court records, Hayslip and Darren Cain were dating when Thompson came to Hayslip’s apartment and began arguing with Cain around 3 a.m. the night of the killings. Police were called and told Thompson to leave the apartment complex. He returned three hours later and shot both Hayslip and Cain.

Cain died at the scene, and Hayslip died in a hospital a week later.

“The Hayslip and Cain families have waited over twenty-five years for justice to occur,” prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said in court filings.

About an hour before the scheduled 6 p.m. execution, the U.S. Supreme Court — without explanation — issued a brief order rejecting Thompson’s final appeal. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had denied Thompson’s request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty.

Thompson’s attorneys had argued in filings with the Supreme Court that he was not allowed to refute or confront the prosecution’s evidence that concluded Hayslip died from a gunshot wound to the face. Thompson’s attorneys argued that Hayslip actually died from flawed medical care she received after the shooting that resulted in severe brain damage sustained from oxygen deprivation following a failed intubation.

Prosecutors had said a jury had already rejected the claim by Thompson and decided under state law he was responsible for Hayslip’s death because it “would not have occurred but for his conduct.”

Hayslip’s family had filed a lawsuit against one of her doctors, alleging that medical negligence during her treatment left her brain-dead. A jury in 2002 found in favor of the doctor.

Thompson had his original death sentence overturned and a new punishment trial was held in November 2005. A jury again ordered him to die by lethal injection.

Shortly after being resentenced, Thompson escaped from the Harris County Jail in Houston by walking out the front door virtually unchallenged by deputies. He later told The Associated Press that after meeting with his attorney in a small interview cell, he slipped out of his handcuffs and orange jail jumpsuit and left the room, which was unlocked. Thompson waived an ID badge fashioned out of his prison ID card to get past several deputies.

“I got to smell the trees, feel the wind in my hair, grass under my feet, see the stars at night. It took me straight back to childhood being outside on a summer night,” Thompson said of his time on the run, speaking with AP in a 2005 interview. He was arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana, while trying to arrange for wire transfers of money from overseas so he could make it to Canada.

Texas has historically held more executions than any other state though Florida had the most in 2025 with 19. The next execution in the U.S. is scheduled to be the Feb. 10 lethal injection of Ronald Palmer Health, who was convicted of killing a traveling salesman during a 1989 robbery in the Gainesville area of that state.

Lozano reported from Houston. Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

This photo provided by Texas Department of Criminal Justice. shows Texas death row inmate Charles Victor Thompson. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)