Martin Odegaard was seen limping out of the stadium after a poor challenge from Bernardo Silva in Norway's 2-1 defeat to Portugal, raising injury concerns for Arsenal.
Joao Felix and Goncalo Ramos scored either side of Erling Haaland's 51st-minute strike to keep Portugal's perfect record in this year's Nations League on Sunday night. Having beaten Wales 1-0 in their opening match, Portugal top Group A4 ahead of their trip to Copenhagen to face Denmark on Thursday.
However, much of the post-match talk surrounded Silva's badly timed tackle on Arsenal captain Odegaard in the final moments of stoppage time at Oslo's Ullevaal Stadium.
Odegaard's angry reaction
After collecting possession deep inside Norway's half, Odegaard passed to Andreas Schjelderup from the edge of his own penalty area before taking a heavy blow to the ankle from former Manchester City midfielder Silva. Silva, who joined Real Madrid in the summer, continued as if nothing had happened, but Norway's captain was visibly furious, appearing to mouth an expletive at his opponent when they came face to face.
The usually calm Odegaard kept protesting long after the incident and was clearly struggling as the match wound down. He was later seen limping through the mixed zone towards the home team's coach, images that will concern fans of both Norway and Arsenal.
'He just kicked me down long after I had played the ball away,' Odegaard told Norwegian television channel TV2. 'I didn't understand what he was talking about. It doesn't belong on a football field. It's a shame that people do that.'
Silva's blunt response
Asked what he had said to Silva in the immediate aftermath, Odegaard replied: 'I don't think we should do that on TV.' He added: 'I got a knock on my ankle. It probably won't be good tonight. But I'm betting it will be fine in the next few days.'
Norway defender Leo Ostigard was similarly unimpressed with the 'ugly' challenge, which he suggested 'looked quite deliberate' from his position. 'It's very late. When you see it afterwards on video, it's very ugly,' he told reporters. 'It could well have been red. It's terribly ugly. It's just terribly bad.'
The Genoa centre-back added: 'These are the kinds of things we don't want happening to our captain. When it comes so long after, it looks quite deliberate. Last year he was unlucky with a lot of injuries and he can't do anything about those things. They're going to take him because he's got the ball a lot in the middle there. Of course they're frustrated, but you can't do that.'
Silva appeared less sympathetic when asked about Odegaard's reaction in the mixed zone, bluntly responding: 'It's football, my friend.'
Arsenal fans' anger
Arsenal supporters were unsurprisingly angry and upset with Silva's tackle and post-match remarks. One fan account on X wrote: 'This coward has been part of a cheating culture his whole career. Have you ever seen Odegaard like this?'
Arsenal reporter Charles Watts tweeted: 'You never see Odegaard this angry. He knows full well Bernardo has gone out purely to hurt him. Understandably furious.'
Odegaard will hope to shake off any injury concerns ahead of Norway's next Nations League contest away to Wales on Thursday. Stale Solbakken's men have three points from their first two matches after defeating Denmark 3-2 in their opening encounter.
