Odegaard on making our added home advantage count

Every home game, Martin Odegaard gives you his thoughts on the goings-on around the club in his captain’s notes for the matchday programme. 

Ahead of tonight's Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich, the skipper discussed learning from the Porto games in the previous round, getting some revenge on Bayern and having an extra boost when it comes to home advantage.

Everyone is so excited to be playing in the quarter-finals of this beautiful competition, against one of the biggest and strongest clubs in the world. Bayern have a lot of history in this competition, and have been at the top for so long, so it’s going to another big challenge for us, and a great experience here at our home.

We will have the whole stadium as well tonight, so hopefully that can make a big difference in our favour, and it’s up to us to take full advantage of that. We know you’ll be bringing the noise and making the whole stadium red because big games like this are what everyone wants to be involved in. We’re looking forward to another memorable night for us, another full house, and if we can create the atmosphere we had for the Porto game, then it will be an amazing occasion.

Those were two very tough games against Porto in the last round. We had to give everything, they pushed us all the way but we got there in the end. It was an amazing feeling to win it on penalties. Now I think we have to use that whole experience, and reflect on our performances over those two legs, to grow and develop more as a group. 

We are still a young squad, but that was another big experience for everyone. I think it was a massive boost for us, sometimes you can take more from winning close ones like that. We had to dig deep, show our mentality, show some game management and I can tell you we were exhausted afterwards!

But this is where we want to be, it’s the biggest tournament in the world, and it’s what we work so hard for. We knew whoever we play at this stage would be a massive club and a massive test, we are down to the last eight now. It was before any of the current players were here, but we all know about the history Arsenal has with Bayern, and about the pain they caused for the fans last time we met.

We would love to give our supporters something to shout about tonight, that’s definitely another extra motivation for us, and I can’t wait to get out on the pitch to feel the fire in the atmosphere again.

We want to carry on the momentum we have built up lately. We are feeling good, and our confidence is high as well after our last couple of games in the Premier League.

Read the rest of Martin's notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying a copy of the Arsenal v Bayern programme either around the stadium or online