The offensive player is particularly thriving at Bodø this Champions League season. Hauge, who never really found his way around during his stints at AC Milan and Eintracht Frankfurt, returned to his youth club around a year ago. He has now scored six times in ten games in the premier class, including against BVB and Manchester City – and now also in both games against Inter. The 26-year-old has found his way back to his old place of work.
The fact that Bodø regularly annoys top teams, especially on the international stage, has not only to do with the long-standing coach and the high density of professionals who demonstrably feel comfortable in their homeland. The local weather and their own home stadium probably also play into the team’s hands.
The city of Bodø is located north of the Arctic Circle. Subzero temperatures are not uncommon during games in the Aspmyra Stadium. In the first duel with Inter, the thermometer showed minus six degrees. And the Norwegians, who were adapted to such temperatures, seemed to cope with this cold much better than their opponents who were used to warmer climates.
In addition, due to the special local weather conditions, the Aspmyra Stadium is not made of natural turf, but rather artificial turf. The ball tends to roll faster on this, especially when it is wet. Bodø’s professionals are very familiar with the surface. Although this is not the only reason for the team’s strength at home, it is certainly a supporting element.
Of course, Bodø couldn’t use this advantage in the away game in Milan. At the San Siro, the team had to survive on a hybrid turf in spring-like ten degrees – and mastered the task with flying colors. Bodø was safe at the back, Hauge and right winger Haakon Evjen were ice cold up front and shot their team to victory.
The players apparently weren’t worried about getting into problems with Inter on the Milanese hybrid turf anyway. “I’m sure we can go there and hold our own,” Hauge said last week. “We showed that against Atlético and Dortmund.” Bodø previously scored points away from both top clubs. “We now know that we are competitive against the best teams in the world,” emphasized Hauge. He was also right in Milan.
