Former Man Utd midfielder Owen Hargreaves has told Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard that he played like a “surgeon” against Olympiacos on Wednesday.
The Gunners beat the Greek side 2-0 in the league phase of the Champions League with Gabriel Martinelli and Buyako Saka getting the goals for Mikel Arteta’s side.
In the 12th minute, Odegaard threaded the ball through to Viktor Gyokeres, who turned it towards goal, before Martinelli converted the rebound off the post to make it 1-0.
Arsenal midfielder Odegaard pulled off another outstanding through ball before the half-time interval but Gyokeres fluffed the finish in front of an excited home crowd.
And Odegaard got his assist in injury time at the end of the second half when a lovely weighted ball found Saka in the area with the England international bundling it through the goalkeepers legs to make it 2-0.
After the match, Hargreaves was full of praise for Norway international Odegaard and insisted the Arsenal captain “was the best player on the pitch by a country mile”.
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Hargreaves said on TNT Sports: “In the first-half he was the best player on the pitch by a country mile. He was at his absolute best.
“He left no questions that he’s still the star player at the moment. That’s probably as good as Odegaard can play.
“When he plays like that he’s just a joy to watch. The goal is all him, really.”
That was before Odegaard joined all of the TNT Sports team pitchside for a debrief and discuss his performance and the win over Olympiacos.
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Hargreaves told Odegaard: “Martin, we were talking about your performance, especially in the first half.
“This ball is ridiculous by the way. You played a few balls in the first half that were just silly. You played like a surgeon, it was so precise. It was you at your absolute best.”
Responding to Hargreaves, Odegaard said: “It was nice to be back. I have missed it and I felt good, and it was a good win.
“We work on that [the fluidity] a lot, we want to create a lot. We know the quality we have in the team and how solid we are defensively so if we can create those chances and flow, it is always going to be good.
“That is what I want to do, especially with those forward players, especially with Viktor [Gyokeres] who is so aggressive and always a threat.
“That is my job, to create things for them. I could have had a few more assists, but we got the win and I enjoyed it.”
