Ulrik Saltnes threw a late spanner in the works but Tottenham will still be confident of reaching the Europa League final after a 3-1 victory over Bodo/Glimt.

Brennan Johnson set the tone for a superb Spurs performance when he nodded home from close range after just 38 seconds, following a superb header across goal by Richarlison.

James Maddison then doubled the home side's lead after 34 minutes, bringing a wonderful Pedro Porro pass under his spell and firing a low effort into the far corner.

The game was seemingly put to bed after an hour when Cristian Romero was caught by Fredrik Sjovold inside the area and, after a VAR review, a penalty was awarded.

Dominic Solanke stepped up, stuttered and calmly stroked the ball home to give Spurs a commanding 3-0 lead.

Victory in the first leg! pic.twitter.com/UiBjMOuSxf

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 1, 2025

Yet a concerning injury for Maddison was then followed up by a Bodo/Glimt goal.

From the visitors'  first shot on target, Saltnes fired a deflected effort off Rodrigo Bentancur to reduce the deficit to two and give the travelling Norwegians a glimmer of hope for next week's return leg.

Data Debrief: Dominant Spurs to book a date with destiny?

Johnson’s opener is the fastest goal in a Europa League semi-final at 38 seconds, with the record previously held by Ansgar Knauff for Eintracht Frankfurt v West Ham in 2022 (0:50), and it was exactly the start Ange Postecoglou's team would have wanted.

It paved the way for a dominant display, with Spurs having 24 shots, getting seven on target and recording chances worth 3.04 expected goals to Bodo/Glimt's 0.26.

Yet there are only two goals in it, with the Norwegian team having scored in their last 13 Europa League games, and they have hope ahead of the second leg.

If Tottenham were to do the job in Norway next week, though, they would reach a European final for the first time since 2019, when they suffered a Champions League final defeat to Liverpool. The club has not won a major trophy for 17 years, since lifting the EFL Cup in 2008.