Rounding off our 3-0 Champions League victory over Dinamo Zagreb with a goal ensured it was a perfect night for Martin Odegaard.
Full of running until the end, the skipper was in the perfect place to tuck home Leandro Trossard’s cross in the 91st minute to grab his first goal since November and put the cap on a fine night’s work by him and his teammates.
And Martin was relieved to end that wait to see his name on the scoresheet again, as we ground down a resilient Dinamo side to get the result we craved.
“I’m really happy,” he smiled post-match. “It was a strong performance, 3-0 at home, and we’ve put ourselves in a good position now in the Champions League to be in the top eight, so really happy.
“We expected them to defend low and try to take the speed out of the game. We got the early goal but after that, I think the game slowed down a bit and they did well to do that. We could have done better in some areas of the game but in the end we got three goals and a solid controlled win.
“It was nice to get [a goal]. I’ve been waiting for it, I had a lot of chances that I missed. Today I was in the right area, I attacked the box and I got the goal, so it was nice.”
A fifth victory from seven league phase matches so far has put us in a commanding position to reach the last 16 of the competition, courtesy of a top-eight finish in the standings.
That is something that thrills Martin, who like all players in this season’s new-look competition was unsure what total would be enough to skip the play-off round, which we look nailed on to do so now. A point against Girona next week would guarantee that, freeing up some midweeks for us next month and giving the squad a breather from a congested fixture list.
“That was the goal,” the captain admitted. “With the new format, you didn’t know how many points you needed and all that. That’s been the key thing, to just take it game by game now, and make sure we’re there. That’s what we want, so we’re happy and it’s looking good, but we have to finish the job.
“It’s a busy schedule, we want to be top eight first of all, to go directly to there, but we’ll get some rest as well, and that’s always good. Hopefully we can do that.”
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