Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was left furious by a late kick on his ankle by Portugal's Bernardo Silva in stoppage time of a Nations League game on Sunday. Silva, who joined Real Madrid from Manchester City in the offseason, received only a yellow card for the challenge in Portugal's 2-1 win in Oslo.
Odegaard was filmed repeatedly shouting an expletive in English at his longtime Premier League rival, who he could meet again in Lisbon on Sunday in the return game of their Nations League group.
'He completely lost his head'
'This has no place on a football pitch,' Odegaard told Norwegian broadcaster TV2 before limping toward the team bus more than an hour after the final whistle. 'It's a shame that people behave like that. He completely lost his head. He just kicks me down long after I've played the ball. I don't understand what he's doing.'
He added: 'You have to ask him. I don't know what he's doing. It's a shame that people behave like that, but that's life.'
Red card 'fully justified'
Norway's Leo Ostigard said he thought Silva should have seen red for the tackle. 'From the video replay, the tackle was extremely ugly. I think a red card would have been fully justified,' he said. 'It's a really nasty one. It's just absolutely awful to do. That's the kind of thing we don't want to see happen to our captain. When it comes that long after the ball has gone, it looks pretty deliberate.'
Norway head coach Stale Solbakken described Silva's challenge as 'completely unnecessary'. 'It's a nasty challenge, and it's right on the borderline of a red card,' he said. 'His motivation is to stop the play, and he comes in from behind.'
Norway and Portugal meet again in the Nations League on October 4, with the fixture taking place in Porto.
