At a Glance:
- Arsenal beat Sporting CP 1-0 in Lisbon on Tuesday night in the Champions League.
- The Gunners weren’t at their best in the clash, although one star did produce an encouraging performance.
- The player in question broke a 2025/26 Champions League record.
Arsenal beat Sporting CP in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie on Tuesday night, and one particular member of Mikel Arteta’s team’s performance has gone under the radar.
The Gunners weren’t at their best in Lisbon, but managed to emerge from the Portuguese capital victorious, courtesy of a late Kai Havertz goal. The German made a late run into the box, received an excellent clipped pass from Gabriel Martinelli, before slotting beyond Sporting’s Rui Silva.
While Arteta won’t be delighted with the performance his team produced, he’ll be ecstatic to have come away with a win. They return to North London in a strong position to progress into the semi-final of Europe’s elite competition for the second consecutive season, for the first time in their history.
Martin Odegaard breaks Champions League record vs Sporting
Martin Odegaard impressed upon his return from injury against Southampton on the weekend, and he built upon this with another positive step in the right direction against Sporting. However, not everyone was enthralled by the Norwegian’s display, with many fans venting their frustrations at the lack of threat resulting from the captain’s involvement.
While it’s true that Odegaard wasn’t able to create many dangerous moments on the night, this is more of a reflection on the forwards he was feeding. Viktor Gyokeres was clunky and ineffective, Noni Madueke was lively but inefficient with his final action, while Leandro Trossard wasn’t able to exert any influence in the final third.
Odegaard’s job is to get the ball into forward areas, and it’s then up to the forwards to manufacture chances in these positions. He did this job relatively well, while the forward line didn’t do theirs.
In fact, the 27-year-old playmaker broke a record for this season’s Champions League campaign against Sporting. He successfully passed or dribbled into the opposition’s penalty area six times from open play – more than any player in a single Champions League match this term.
Martin Ødegaard successfully passed or dribbled into the opposition’s penalty area six times from open play vs Sporting CP, a record for any player in a single #UCL match this season 🪡 pic.twitter.com/FeUT0dONLR
— WhoScored (@WhoScored) April 8, 2026
Arsenal need to get Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze on the pitch together
Odegaard has always ranked highly for entries into the box. What has changed in the last few years is the efficiency of the attacking players ahead of him.
Few Arsenal forwards are displaying the level of consistency required of them, and this is an issue which is leading to Odegaard not being appreciated for the ball progression he provides. Off the right, he doesn’t have the same rapport with Madueke as he does with Saka, while Trossard’s decline in final third productivity is costing the Gunners.
Eberechi Eze could solve a lot of these issues for Arsenal. The England international operates best in the left-hand channel, in the exact areas Trossard is currently taking up.
If Eze can slot into this role seamlessly, then Odegaard’s productivity should increase. He’ll have someone to find in the final third who is capable of influencing the game inside the penalty box. Once the Gunners’ marquee signing from last summer is finally fit, Arteta must experiment with this set-up.
