Martin Odegaard suffered what appeared to be a serious ankle injury as Norway beat Austria 2-1 in the Nations League on Monday, with goals from Felix Horn Myhre and a late winner from Erling Haaland.
The Arsenal skipper left the pitch after receiving treatment for several minutes in the second half following a collision with Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner, and Norway boss Stale Solbakken said it looked bad.
Odegaard covered his face with his hands while being treated on the field midway through the second half of the game.
“Martin Odegaard’s injury looked bad in the dressing room as well I saw he was sitting with the physiotherapists around him but he had no chance to continue and we know it was an ankle sprain,” the coach said to Norwegian TV 2.
“Yes it’s a sprain, and as those of us who had played football know, with luck it can turn out ok if the ligaments aren’t torn,”
Norway’s doctor Ola Sand added that an MRI on the 25-year-old would be carried out.
“Ankle sprains are difficult to deal with straight away, so we almost have to see
how things go forward. We will examine him when we are back at the hotel. Maybe we use ultrasound to look at it. If we are unsure, there will be an MRI tomorrow,” Sand said.
Norway are second in League B Group 3, level on four points with Slovenia,
who they will play next on October 10.
Odegaard was due to return from national team duty into a tough week of away games for Arsenal.
The Gunners first go to London rival Tottenham on Sunday and then open their Champions League programme at Atalanta, the Europa League winner, four days later in Italy.
A visit to Manchester City completes a gruelling week on September 22.
Norway were level at 1-1 when Odegaard went off and won the game on Haaland’s 80th-minute goal.
