{"id":1486,"date":"2026-04-29T11:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/socialsport.online\/?p=1486"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:11:15","slug":"odegaard-relishing-semi-final-showdown-interview-news-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/?p=1486","title":{"rendered":"Odegaard relishing semi-final showdown | Interview | News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Martin Odegaard believes our experiences of reaching this stage of the UEFA Champions League last season can help us go all the way this time around.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We were knocked out by PSG in the final four in 2024\/25, but after qualifying for the semi-finals for a second season running, we’re aiming to overcome Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid and reach the final for the first time since 2006.<\/p>\n

Ahead of our first leg in the Spanish capital, our skipper said: “I think we’re stronger in different ways.”<\/p>\n

“Obviously we have some new players in as well, and I feel like we’re stronger. I feel like we learned from all of those experiences last year and are probably even more prepared now for this. I feel like we’re stronger in many different ways. We’re up for it and we’re ready to go.<\/p>\n

“We’re really confident. We have full belief in what we’re doing. The energy of the group is great, we\u2019re in a great position, and we’re ready for tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

We take on an Atleti team that has knocked out Tottenham and Barcelona to reach the final four, bidding to reach their first UCL final in 10 years.<\/p>\n

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\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n

Inside Training: Stepping into the semi-finals <\/span>
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“They’re a great team, it’s a strong team,” Martin said. “They’re very competitive and they’ve worked with this manager for a long time. <\/p>\n

“Really, really strong team, in a great stadium with good supporters. They’re strong at home, so it\u2019s going to be a great battle and looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n

Our captain has returned to full fitness following an injury against Sporting CP in the previous round.<\/p>\n

Odegaard admits it has been frustrating to have been away from the pitch, but having made his comeback, is keen to make up for lost time.<\/p>\n

“It’s probably the hardest thing for a football player to be out injured. That’s tough but it’s a part of the life as a footballer, as an athlete, you have to deal with those moments and I think you’ve got to see the positive sides, you’ve got to see where you can learn something. <\/p>\n

“Also, you get even hungrier to get back on the pitch, and you’ve got to take the positives and learn from it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martin Odegaard believes our experiences of reaching this stage of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}