German admiration for Ødegaard’s showing in U21 victory

Martin Ødegaard.Norway.Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB scanpix

Germany’s U21 national football team players, like everybody else, were impressed by Martin Ødegaard’s performance in Tuesday’s Norwegian 3 – 1 goal win.

 

‘When given room, he is simply outstanding,’ said German team captain, Jonathan Tah.

The Leverkusen defender made it clear that he won’t look back on the game with fond memories.

Ødegaard periodically did as he wanted with the Germans, and he was involved in all three Norwegian goals.

He scored the second goal, taking it to 2-1, and made the back pass taking the score to 3-1.

’Kicker’ magazine was full of praise for Ødegaard, describing him as a ‘sorcerer’, and ‘jewel’. It concluded that ‘he showed why he is called one of the world’s hottest talents’.

The German news agency, DPA, described Ødegaard as a ‘megatalent’ and gave him a lot of responsibility for Germany’s U21 national team defeat for the first time in seven years, after 16 straight victories.

‘We failed to defend ourselves against Norway’s high pressure and duel strength,’ said back winger, Benjamin Henrichs. He sat on the bench when Germany’s national team crushed Norway in September, and had hardly expected such a change of role.

‘Norway were good, and we became too passive. And we gave Ødegaard too much space’, said Tah.

 

Source: NRK / Norway Today