Champions League playoffs: Bodø/Glimt stuns Inter Milan, Gordon hits four as Newcastle routs Qarabag

Tiny Bodø/Glimt produced another Champions League shock by stunning last year's beaten finalist Inter Milan 3-1 in the playoffs on Wednesday.

The Norwegian underdog followed up back-to-back wins against Manchester City and Atletico Madrid by securing a two-goal advantage going into next week's second leg in Milan.

Anthony Gordon scored four goals in the first half as Newcastle routed Qarabag 6-1.

Atletico drew 3-3 away to Club Brugge and Bayer Leverkusen has a 2-0 lead after its first leg at Olympiacos.

Bodø/Glimt is fast becoming the unlikely story of this season's Champions League, producing one upset after another.

After booking its place in the playoffs with wins against City and Atletico, it strengthened its chances of advancing to the round of 16 with victory against Italian league leader Inter.

Sondre Fet put the home team ahead after collecting Kasper Hogh’s backheel in the 20th minute.

Francesco Pio Esposito equalized before the break, but Bodø/Glimt took control in the second half.

Hogh produced a second assist to set up Jens Petter Hauge in the 61st and then got a goal himself three minutes later.

“I feel amazing, just thankful to play with this team. I’m happy that I could help the team by making assists and scoring a goal. I play in a good team, so that’s nice," Hogh said.

Inter was a beaten finalist in two of the last three seasons, but now faces a major test to advance to the next round.

“A bad result for us and a bad night for us, but we need to stay calm and believe that we can win at home,” Inter midfielder Petar Sucic said.

Newcastle was 5-0 up by halftime against Qarabag in Azerbaijan and, barring an unlikely collapse in the second leg at home, is cruising into the round of 16.

Gordon completed his hat trick in 33 minutes at the Tofik Bakhramov Stadium in Baku and got a fourth in first-half added time.

He now has 10 Champions League goals this season, breaking Alan Shearer's Newcastle record of six in a single campaign in European soccer's top club competition.

“He could have had more, but (it was) a very good display,” coach Eddie Howe said.

Malick Thiaw was also on target for the Premier League team, which had 16 shots in a rampant first half.

Elvin Jafarguliyev pulled one back for Qarabag, which has been one of the surprise stories of this season's Champions League after qualifying for the playoffs. But Jacob Murphy's deflected strike completed the rout for Newcastle, which will be the fifth English team in the last 16 if it advances.

Atletico blew a two-goal lead at Club Brugge and then saw the Belgians come back again with an equalizer in the 89th to keep the teams neck and neck at 3-3.

Julian Alvarez's eighth-minute penalty was followed by another goal from January signing Ademola Lookman in first-half added time.

Raphael Onyedika pulled a goal back six minutes into the second half after Nicolo Tresoldi's effort was saved. Tresoldi then leveled on the hour.

Atletico regained the lead in the 70th through an own goal from Joel Ordonez, but Christian Tzolis produced a final twist in the 89th.

Two goals from Patrik Schick put Leverkusen in complete control against Olympiacos, with the Germans winning 2-0 ahead of the home second leg.

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

Brugge's team celebrate after Christos Tzolis scored his side's third goal during the Champions League play-off first leg soccer match between Club Brugge and Atletico Madrid, in Bruges, Belgium, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Bodø/Glimt's Sondre Brunstad Fet celebrates after scoring against Inter's Milan during a Champions League soccer match, Wednesday, Feb 18, 2026, in Bodo, Norway. (Mats Torbergsen/NTB Scanpix via AP)

Bodø/Glimt's Jens Petter Hauge celebrates after scoring against Inter Milan during a Champions League soccer match, Wednesday, Feb 18, 2026, in Bodo, Norway. (Thomas Andersen/NTB Scanpix via AP)

Newcastle's Jacob Murphy celebrates after scoring his side's sixth goal during the Champions League play-off first leg soccer match between Qarabag and Newcastle in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

Newcastle's Anthony Gordon, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's first goal during the Champions League play-off first leg soccer match between Qarabag and Newcastle in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

Newcastle's Anthony Gordon, left, celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Champions League play-off first leg soccer match between Qarabag and Newcastle in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Members of the United Nations Security Council called Wednesday for the Gaza ceasefire deal to become permanent and blasted Israeli efforts to expand control in the West Bank as a threat to prospects of a two-state solution, coming on the eve of President Donald Trump’s first Board of Peace gathering to discuss the future of the Palestinian territories.

The high-level U.N. session in New York was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved up after Trump announced the board's meeting for the same day and it became clear that it would complicate travel plans for diplomats planning to attend both. It is a sign of the potential for overlapping and conflicting agendas between the United Nations’ most powerful body and Trump’s new initiative, whose broader ambitions to broker global conflicts have raised concerns in some countries that it may attempt to rival the U.N. Security Council.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said there is an opportunity for the U.N.'s most powerful body to help build “a better future” for Israelis and Palestinians despite the “cycle of violence and suffering” over the more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas.

“Gaza must not get stuck in a no man’s land between peace and war,” Cooper said as she opened the meeting.

In addition to the U.K., the foreign ministers of Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia attended the monthly Mideast meeting of the 15-member council after many Arab and Islamic countries requested last week that it discuss Gaza and Israel's contentious West Bank settlement project before some of them head to Washington.

“Annexation is a breach of the U.N. Charter and of the most fundamental rules of international law,” Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour said. “It is a breach of President Trump’s plan, and constitutes an existential threat to ongoing peace efforts.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said ahead of the session that it was not drawing attention and that the focus of the international world would be on the Board of Peace meeting.

Saar also accused the Security Council of being “infected with an anti-Israeli obsession” and insisted that no nation has a stronger right than its “historical and documented right to the land of the Bible.”

The board to be chaired by Trump was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing his 20-point plan for Gaza’s future. But the Republican president's new vision for the board to be a mediator of worldwide conflicts has led to skepticism from major allies.

While more than 20 countries have so far accepted an invitation to join the board, close U.S. partners, including France, Germany and others, have opted not to join yet and renewed support for the U.N., which also is in the throes of major reforms and funding cuts.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., appeared to criticize countries that had not yet signed on to the Board of Peace, saying that unlike the Security Council, the board is “not talking, it is doing.”

“We are hearing the chattering class criticizing the structure of the board, that it's unconventional, that it's unprecedented,” Waltz said Wednesday. “Again, the old ways were not working.”

The Security Council is meeting a day after nearly all of its 15 members — minus the United States — and dozens of other diplomats joined Palestinian ambassador Mansour as he read a statement on behalf of 80 countries and several organizations condemning Israel's latest actions in the West Bank, demanding an immediate reversal and underlining “strong opposition to any form of annexation.”

In the last several weeks, Israel has launched a contentious land regulation process that will deepen its control in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said it amounts to “de facto sovereignty” that will block the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Outraged Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights groups have called the moves an illegal annexation of the territory, home to roughly 3.4 million Palestinians who seek it for a future state.

The U.N. meeting also delved into the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect Oct. 10. U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo and Israeli and Palestinian civil society representatives gave briefings for the first time since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that launched the war.

“President Trump spoke of a golden era for the Middle East. That future is possible and can only be unlocked by resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, removing a central driver of instability and a fuel for radicalization,” warned Hiba Qasas, a Palestinian who is founding executive director of Geneva-based Principles for Peace Foundation.

Former Israeli diplomat Nadav Tamir, executive director of J Street Israel, echoed that, saying a strong coalition of Israelis and Palestinians believe the only way to end the conflict is through a two-state solution.

“Israel cannot remain the democratic homeland of the Jewish people if Palestinians are denied a homeland of their own. Our futures are interdependent,” Tamir said.

DiCarlo of the U.N. said this is “a pivotal moment in the Middle East” that opens the possibility for the region to move in a new direction. “But that opening is neither assured nor indefinite,” she said, and whether it will be sustained depends on decisions in the coming weeks.

“Our collective efforts must now consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza and alleviate the suffering of the population,” she said. “We need concrete progress toward stabilization and recovery, consistent with international law, to lay the foundations for lasting peace. The Board of Peace meeting in Washington, D.C., tomorrow is an important step.”

Aspects of the ceasefire deal have moved forward, including Hamas releasing all the hostages it was holding and increased amounts of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza, though the U.N. says the level is insufficient. A new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer Gaza’s daily affairs.

But the most challenging steps lie ahead, including the deployment of an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.

Trump said this week that the Board of Peace members have pledged $5 billion toward Gaza reconstruction and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the territory. He didn't provide details. Indonesia’s military says up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for a potential deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission.

Displaced Palestinian struggle to receive donated food for iftar, the fast-breaking meal, on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn to the White House after arriving on Marine One Monday evening, Feb. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

FILE - The symbol of the United Nations is displayed outside the Secretariat Building, Feb. 28, 2022, at United Nations Headquarters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)