'I've waited 34 years for this' - Tripic after Viking's Champions League draw with Bayern

Viking FK drew 3-3 with Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, following a 3-1 defeat at Stuttgart.

When Viking ended a 34-year Norwegian title drought last year it brought the club into Champions League territory they had long imagined. Captain Zlatko Tripic, who joined the club in the second tier in 2018, told Norwegian channel TV2: "I could have played another 90 minutes. I'm so incredibly proud. I've waited 34 years for this." Tripic is one part of the club's revival alongside joint head coaches Morten Jensen and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim.

Jensen and Aarsheim, former assistants who both stepped up together in 2021, spoke to the BBC's Euro Leagues show last month ahead of their Champions League debut and have since taken Viking to a domestic title. Aarsheim said: "It's a special story. We were born Viking fans, we've been playing in Viking. "We were working together as assistant coaches and the dream job in managing Viking came up. "We said let's do it together. It will be better and the chances to get the job will be better." Jensen, who was on Viking's books as a player but never made a first-team appearance, added: "If you dare sometimes to go against the strides then you can achieve great things. "If you're going to follow and do whatever everybody else does, maybe we become a poor replica. "So for now we're happily married here and we love working together."

Viking led Bayern 2-0 at half-time in the 3-3 draw and required a last-minute goal to secure a point. In a recent interview with the Guardian, Aarsheim said: "For us, Viking is Barcelona. The players have to understand that we see Viking as more than a club. In our heads, it's the best team in the world." Aarsheim described the club's European place as "almost unreal. We talked about it, maybe you should go into the Conference League and learn there, then you go into the Europa League. And we just jumped into the best party ever so it's unreal."

Jensen characterised their Champions League programme as "the whole buffet" and listed the trips it contains: "We go to England, we go to Germany, we go to Italy, we go to Spain. We go to Napoli, Diego Maradona's old playground, against Atletico Madrid we'll be up against Diego Simeone's side which will be very interesting," he said. "And obviously Aston Villa as well, Norwegians are quite obsessed with English football so to go there to Villa Park and actually our old assistant coach Pal Fjall is set-piece coach there."

Last season Viking clinched the title on the final day by beating Valerenga 5-1 to maintain a one-point lead over Bodo/Glimt, having been in the second tier as recently as 2018. Lars Risan, a Viking fan and podcaster, told BBC Radio 5 Live last year: "A lot of people were very nervous and excited. I've never experienced it before," and added: "Hopefully it won't be the only time in their life they experience it, but it's been 34 years. "It's a big deal. It brings us all together and we can celebrate as a city. It's one of those special things you never know when you'll be able to experience again. "You can feel the atmosphere in town. I want everyone to be able to take part in that. If we could just go down to stadium and have a big party that would be awesome."

Viking are one of Norway's most successful clubs with nine league titles, six of which came between 1972 and 1982, and they have fielded a number of British managers, including Bill Foulkes in 1985 and Roy Hodgson for 18 months from 2004 to 2005. Roy Hodgson also managed Viking in the 2005-06 Uefa Cup group stages, where they beat Monaco and only went out on goal difference. In Europe they famously knocked Chelsea out of the Uefa Cup first round in 2002 with a 5-4 aggregate win.

The club produced several players who later moved to English football, including Erik Nevland, Brede Hangeland, Egil Ostenstad and Thomas Myhre; Nevland has been Viking's sporting director since 2021. Viking were relegated in 2017 under English manager Ian Burchnall, their first relegation in 31 years, and Risan said: "They spent too much money on players who weren't good enough. A lot of things went wrong and it ended in relegation. But it turned out to be a good thing for Viking."

Bjarne Berntsen returned to take charge as Viking prepared for the second-tier campaign in 2018, with Aarsheim and Jensen as his assistants; they won the second-tier title and were promoted at the first attempt. Viking won the 2019 Norwegian Cup in their first season back in the top flight, and after a sixth-place finish in the Covid-interrupted 2020 season Berntsen was sacked and replaced by his two assistants. Risan said: "People were sceptical about it," admitted Risan. "It seems like it just works for them even though people were laughing or asking questions. They figured out how they wanted to do it and stuck to it. They're both from Stavanger and love the club." The team finished third in 2021 and 2024 and secured last season's title with seven consecutive wins.

Zlatko Tripic, now 33, had previously won the Norwegian title with Molde in 2011 and 2012 before arriving from Sheriff Tiraspol, and he scored the winner in Viking's 2019 cup final success over Haugesund. Tripic left in 2020 for Turkish side Goztepe and returned 18 months later; he then reached double figures in both goals and assists in three consecutive seasons, a feat no Viking player had achieved before. "It's a great story," said Risan. "We had just got relegated in 2017 and it was a big surprise when Zlatko turned up. "He was a profile, someone we didn't think [we could sign]. We thought he just came to keep fit and train. "But he really liked the idea of taking the club to something great and being part of a good story. "Viking is traditionally a big club, but it was down in the dust. He's been a big part of taking Viking back to the top of the table."

Viking travel to Aston Villa on Wednesday in their next Champions League fixture.