Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard hits out at Bernardo Silva – ‘He lost his head’ | Football
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was left furious by a late kick on his ankle by Portugal’s Bernardo Silva in stoppage time of a Nations League game Sunday.
The pair had years of rivalry in the Premier League and Silva, who joined Real Madrid in the offseason from Manchester City, left a mark on the Gunners skipper that got just a yellow card in Portugal’s 2-1 win in Oslo.
Odegaard was filmed repeatedly shouting an expletive in English at his longtime opponent, who he could meet again in Lisbon on Sunday in the return game of their Nations League group.
‘This has no place on a football pitch,’ Odegaard told Norwegian broadcaster TV2 before limping toward the team bus more than an hour after the final whistle.
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‘It’s a shame that people behave like that. He completely lost his head. He just kicks me down long after I’ve played the ball. I don’t understand what he’s doing.’
He added: ‘You have to ask him. I don’t know what he’s doing.
‘It’s a shame that people behave like that, but that’s life.’
Norway’s Leo Ostigard, meanwhile, said he thought Silva should have seen red for the tackle.
‘From the video replay, the tackle was extremely ugly. I think a red card would have been fully justified.
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‘It’s a really nasty one. It’s just absolutely awful to do. That’s the kind of thing we don’t want to see happen to our captain. When it comes that long after the ball has gone, it looks pretty deliberate.’
Norway head coach Stale Solbakken, meanwhile, described Silva’s challenge as ‘completely unnecessary’.
‘It’s a nasty challenge, and it’s right on the borderline of a red card,’ he said. ‘His motivation is to stop the play, and he comes in from behind.’
Norway and Portugal meet again in the Nations League on October 4, with the fixture taking place in Porto.
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