‘It’s brutal’: Odegaard vows to come back stronger after crushing PSG loss on penalties

[p]The Norwegian, who was substituted in the second half in favour of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gyokeres-viktor/zaBZ1xIk/"]Viktor Gyokeres[/a], struggled to make an impact in role as playmaker, with just 12 touches of the ball before making way in the 66th minute. [/p][p]Off the pitch, there was nothing he could do but watch as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gabriel/tEcnVXMS/"]Gabriel[/a] put his decisive spot-kick over the bar to end the game, but the 27-year-old felt his team held their own against the now [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/arsenal-hA1Zm19f/psg-CjhkPw0k/?mid=EJZRaQ15"]back-to-back champions[/a]. [/p][p]Speaking in the mixed zone after the game, he said: [b]“You want to win so bad and to turn up with nothing is brutal. That’s part of football, and we’ve still done some incredible things this season, and we’ll get over this loss and come back even stronger next year.”[/b][/p][embed guid="27f34d93-493c-465c-8c4f-23922edf6f08" url="https://x.com/Arsenal/status/2060834887318253585" social-type="twitter" /][p]Despite the game ending 1-1 after extra time, Luis Enrique’s side outplayed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/arsenal/hA1Zm19f/"]Arsenal[/a] across all of the attacking metrics, with 21 shots to Arsenal’s seven making the xG 1.77-0.44. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/odegaard-martin/ID32TGhp/"]Odegaard[/a] was magnanimous in defeat believing it was the tight margins across the 120 minutes that could have gone either way. [/p][p]He added: [b]“It’s small margins, especially on penalties. [/b][/p][p]“I thought we started the game really good, we got the first goal and after that I thought we defended really well. [/p][p][b]“Obviously, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/psg/CjhkPw0k/"]PSG[/a] had the ball a lot but they didn’t create anything. The penalty, of course, they got their goal. After that it was quite tight… we did everything we could, it’s just to lose (like that).”[/b][/p][image alt="Player ratings" id="13a1d44f-1315-4f7c-9b0d-4431004e94e8" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="04f02f9a-9fe5-4dd9-88e1-e7e3a6986331" original-width="1200" original-height="1200" /][p]Odegaard has been in the spotlight as the season drew to a close for his perceived ineffectiveness in [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/arteta-mikel/lAbHYaQM/"]Mikel Arteta[/a]’s system.[/p][p]One goal and seven assists was his return across all competitions as Arsenal's campaign ended on a disappointing note, and the former [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-madrid/W8mj7MDD/"]Real Madrid[/a] player, now setting his sights on his World Cup finals appearance with Norway, still believes he still has more to give with Arsenal. [/p][p]When asked about his future he responded: “I have a contract here and I’m really happy here. That’s the situation and hopefully I can stay many more years.”[/p][p]Odegaard will now link up with his Norwegian compatriots as they head to the US to face potentially the toughest group of the tournament in France, Senegal and Iraq. [/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/odegaard-martin/ID32TGhp/"]Follow his travels at the World Cup with Flashscore[/a][/b]. [/p]