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Norway head coach Ståle Solbakken has confirmed that his skipper and Arsenal's influential captain Martin Ødegaard picked up a "knock where he shouldn't have" during Tuesday's Champions League triumph over Sporting CP. Nevertheless, the national team boss was quick to characterize the injury as "minor."
Ødegaard led Arsenal out in Lisbon and played 70 minutes before going down. Mikel Arteta was compelled to withdraw his creative talisman late in the match—introducing Kai Havertz, who went on to net the game's decisive goal—and Solbakken has since offered clarity on the worrying incident.
"He [Ødegaard] took a minor knock where he shouldn't have," the Norway manager told journalists at the 2026 Football Conference at Ullevaal Stadium on Thursday, "but I don't think it's anything serious.
"He'll be back on the pitch soon enough. It was a minor setback, and we can't afford any more of those."
Ødegaard certainly needs no further setbacks in what has already been an injury-plagued campaign.
Fears Over Ødegaard Re-Injury Rise
Ødegaard has endured a thoroughly unfortunate season. The Arsenal skipper spent the early part of the campaign repeatedly leaving the pitch with a puzzling shoulder complaint before sustaining more significant damage to his knee in October.
The 27-year-old was sidelined for nearly two months before eventually returning during the hectic festive period. Ødegaard enjoyed a consistent run in the starting lineup between December and January, only to then find himself making regular trips to the treatment room with a string of minor complaints.
Most alarmingly, Ødegaard was ruled out with yet another knee issue throughout the entirety of March, missing the Carabao Cup final and Norway's last round of friendlies ahead of the World Cup squad announcement.
Solbakken's remark that Ødegaard's injury occurred in a place "where [it] shouldn't have" implies that the troublesome knee has flared up once more for Arsenal's chief creator. While the recovery timeline appears blessedly short at this stage, the Gunners can ill afford any disappointing results at this critical point of the season.
Arsenal Can Scarcely Afford Ødegaard Absence
Arsenal had gone the entire season without losing consecutive matches before being eliminated from both domestic cup competitions in back-to-back games. That dip in form—only unconvincingly halted by a nervy Champions League victory midweek—has come alongside a mounting injury crisis.
Ødegaard's primary replacement for much of the season has been Eberechi Eze, who was struck down by a calf injury just as he was hitting his stride in his debut campaign. With Eze unlikely to return before late April at the earliest, and the dependably versatile Mikel Merino also set to miss the remainder of the season before the World Cup, Arsenal face a creativity void that only Ødegaard can realistically fill.
Both first-choice fullbacks, Piero Hincapié and Jurriën Timber, are also currently sharing a treatment room alongside Bukayo Saka.
Arsenal have seven Premier League fixtures remaining with a nine-point cushion over Manchester City, plus the prospect of up to four more Champions League matches to contend with. Those games will be considerably more difficult to win without Ødegaard in the fold.