Portugal had the win in the bag when Bernardo Silva was cautioned for serious foul play in the third minute of stoppage time of a 2-1 UEFA Nations League defeat for Norway at Ullevaal on Sunday. Odegaard was still on the ground when the referee reached for a yellow card.

Asked afterward what the Norway captain had said to him, Silva did not linger.

“It’s football, my friend,” Silva told reporters as he left the stadium.

The Portugal midfielder had come on in the 87th minute for Pedro Neto. Six minutes later he caught Odegaard on the ankle long after the ball had gone, and Norway’s captain was seen walking gingerly outside the ground once the match was over.

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“It doesn’t belong on a football field”

Odegaard was not in the mood to shrug it off.

“It doesn’t belong on a football field,” the Arsenal captain told Norway’s TV2.

“It’s a shame that people do that.”

Odegaard was also blunt about the intent he saw.

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“It’s a head fog from him. Just kicks me down long after I’ve played the ball away. I don’t understand what he’s doing,” Odegaard said.

Then came the sentence Arsenal did not want to hear.

“I hope not. But I got a knock on my ankle there, so it probably won’t be good tonight,” Odegaard said when asked whether he was injured.

Arsenal watch the scans

No official diagnosis has been announced by Norway or Arsenal, and Mikel Arteta must now wait on the scans before he knows whether he has lost his captain.

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Portugal’s João Félix opened the scoring in the 17th minute in Oslo. Erling Haaland pulled Norway level in the 51st before Gonçalo Ramos restored the visitors’ lead three minutes later, and Silva’s late arrival off the bench added the flashpoint of a match Portugal had otherwise controlled.

Same opponent, six days later

The two sides meet again in the reverse fixture on Sunday, 4 October in Portugal.

Whether Odegaard is on the team sheet for the return will depend on the next 48 hours.

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