No sooner had Sporting CP fired home the winning penalty in the shootout on Thursday night than Martin Odegaard was looking forward to the challenges remaining this season.
The skipper’s disappointment at crashing out of the Europa League at the round of 16 stage was obvious after the final whistle, but speaking to Arsenal Media after the game, he said it was time to refocus on the league campaign.
“Yeah, that’s the only thing we can do,” he said. “We have 11 finals to go and that’s it, that’s the main focus now. It starts already now in the dressing room to recover well and change the focus, so that’s what we have to do.”
The first of those games is at home to Crystal Palace this Sunday, before many players head off to join up with their national teams.
“I guess some players are tired,” Odegaard added, “the ones who played the whole game of course, but we’re going to recover well and make sure we come sharp for Sunday, that’s the only thing we can do now.
“We wanted to do something special in this tournament and so we’re disappointed. It’s done now, we can’t think too much about it, we have to move forward.”
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