Ange Postecoglou backed Tottenham to get the job done in Norway after they took a big step towards a place in the Europa League final with a 3-1 last-four first leg win over Bodo/Glimt.

Spurs’ domestic struggles had been well-documented, but a sea of white flags and a tifo with club motto ‘To Dare is to Do’ greeted the team for only its second semi-final in a European competition for 40 years.

It was a display befitting of a big occasion and Tottenham responded with a 38-second opener from Brennan Johnson before James Maddison made it 2-0 in the 34th minute.

A third after 61 minutes from a Dominic Solanke spot-kick had home supporters singing about this month’s final in Bilbao, but Bodo reduced the deficit with seven minutes left through Ulrik Saltnes to set up an intriguing second-leg tie next Thursday.

Bodo boast an impressive home record at Aspmyra Stadion, where they play on an artificial surface, and yet Postecoglou knows what to expect after he experienced the ground with Celtic in 2022.

Asked about the victory, Postecoglou said: “I think it puts us in a good position. I thought the players were outstanding today.

“I thought our performance was everything it needed to be, really well organized and disciplined defensively and really calm going forward and created good opportunities for ourselves and maintaining pressure.

“Obviously they scored the goal late, which doesn’t I think reflect our dominance in the game, but if we repeat that performance next week, it’ll be enough for us to get through.

“I get that Bodo away is a difficult fixture, but so was (Eintracht) Frankfurt away and we went there knowing we had to win to get through and I thought the lads handled it really well.

“I think in Europe this year we’ve been really good at managing whatever situation we’re in. We’ve had some games where AZ (Alkmaar) we lost away from home, but had to come back and showed real calm and composure to win to get through here.

“I think all those experiences give me the belief we can go there and get the job done.”

A concern for Postecoglou will be the fitness of England duo Maddison and Solanke, who limped off with knee and quad injuries respectively in the second half.

He added: “Madders felt a tweak in his knee, but it doesn’t sound like it’s anything serious.

“Dom something similar in his quad. Both of them didn’t feel it was anything too significant, but thought it was wise just to take them off at that point.”

Saltnes’ late strike occurred after Destiny Udogie, Dejan Kulusevski and Mathys Tel had gone close for a fourth goal for Spurs and Bodo boss Kjetil Knutsen believes the final exchanges in north London could prove crucial.

“I think the goal is really important,” Knutsen reflected.

“First of all if you see when Tottenham conceded a goal, they were really disappointed, they lose energy and I think Bodo/Glimt gets a lot of energy because of the goal.

“I think we can take the energy from this game into the next game and then it’s total different for us to play at home.

“I think still we have an opportunity here. We are not the favourites but we will really go for it and fight for it.”