Arsenal and AC Milan met in the Dubai Cup earlier today as the Gunners recorded a 2-1 friendly win over the Italian giants, with Martin Odegaard scoring a stunning freekick.
The Norway international put the Gunners 1-0 up with a delightful, curling effort, before Reiss Nelson doubled Arsenal’s lead to make it 2-0 during the opening 45 minutes.
Shortly after the Hale End graduate’s strike, there was a fiery moment involving Odegaard.
What’s the story?
Well, the 23-year-old was not happy with AC Milan for their aggressive approach after Sandro Tonali clattered into Fabio Vieira.
According to Football London’s Kaya Kaynak, Odegaard screamed at Stefano Pioli – manager of AC Milan – after the challenge on Vieira, in an attempt to prevent his teammates from suffering any injuries in the so-called friendly.
You can see what Kaynak wrote on Twitter while covering the game below.
In our view, Arsenal fans will love this.
At the age of just 23, Odegaard has taken to Arsenal’s captaincy like a duck to water, and clearly isn’t afraid to make his voice heard when he feels the need to.
Arsenal vs Milan showed best of Odegaard
In our view, the 2-1 win over AC Milan showed all that is good about Odegaard.
Firstly, we were treated to his mercurial talent and immense technical ability with his stunning freekick.
Then, supporters got to witness his feisty side, when he stood up for Vieira following the rough challenge from Tonali.
Every side needs a leader who isn’t afraid to get stuck in and be nasty sometimes, so it was great to see the spikier side of Arsenal’s No.8 earlier today.
The Norwegian is really growing under Mikel Arteta in an Arsenal shirt, and if he can continue to show both sides of his impressive game for the remainder of the season, it could see the Premier League title return to north London.
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