'Best player': National media praise £30m Arsenal star who won 100% duels on Int'l duty
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard delivered another fine performance on international duty for Norway on Thursday night.
The 27-year-old picked up a knock to his ankle against Portugal last week after a reckless challenge from Bernardo Silva.
However, he recovered in time to face Wales in the Nations League and made an immediate impact away from home.
Odegaard provided a superb through ball for Oscar Bobb to open the scoring in the 11th minute.
Daniel James managed to put Wales ahead before the interval. Things got worse for Norway after the restart.
Torbjorn Heggem received a straight red card for denying James a clear-cut scoring opportunity.
Goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, who should have cleared his lines to avoid the sending-off, conceded from the resultant free-kick with another error.
Despite the 2-1 loss, Odegaard had a top-notch outing, and popular Norwegian outlet Dagbladet gave the highest rating of 6/10.
The publication said that Odegaard made a ‘sensational start’ with his assist and was Norway’s ‘best player’ after the injury scare.
They wrote: “He made a sensational start to the match with an assist for Bobb. Who said ankle injury? All in all, he was Norway’s best player.”
Aside from his assist, Odegaard registered 116 touches against Wales with 94 successful passes. He had a passing accuracy of 88 percent.
He won 100 percent of his duels (4/4) with three recoveries, and was undoubtedly the best player on the pitch for Norway over 90 minutes.
Norway have another tough away trip to Portugal in the Nations League match before the extended international break finally concludes.
Odegaard, signed by Arsenal for £30 million in 2021, has started every game in the ongoing competition, and we expect him to start against Portugal on the road on Sunday.
Arsenal will hope their influential playmaker returns unscathed, given that Kai Havertz and Christos Tzolis have already suffered hamstring injuries.
Stats from Sofascore.com
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