Odegaard claims Arsenal 'could have won' Bayern Munich thriller
Martin Odegaard believes Arsenal had enough in the tank to beat Bayern Munich outright, despite needing a late Declan Rice equaliser just to salvage a point in Germany. The Gunners captain was candid in his assessment, suggesting the scoreline undersold what his side produced on the night.
Arsenal started the Champions League clash brightly and took an early lead, giving Mikel Arteta's side a platform against one of the continent's most difficult opponents. Bayern responded strongly, though, turning the game around to lead 2-1 by the 61st minute and looking well placed to claim all three points on home soil.
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That context matters. Bayern had drawn 3-3 away at Viking in their previous European outing, but at home they posed an entirely different problem, pressing man to man and winning duels across the pitch throughout the contest.
Arsenal struggled to carve out clear chances after falling behind, but kept probing for an opening. The persistence paid off when Rice found space from his marker and finished well to level the score, sending Arsenal back to London with a point rather than a defeat.
Odegaard's verdict on the performance
Speaking to Arsenal Media after the match, Odegaard was reflective about the result, acknowledging it was probably fair while still insisting his side had chances to go further.
“Yeah, probably a fair result to be honest, but I feel like we could have won the game as well,” he said.
“I think we did a lot of good things, started the game really strongly and I thought we played a good game. It was a really tough team to play against, lots of man to man, duels all over the pitch and so much quality. I thought we did really well and it's just a shame we couldn't get the win, but it was a strong performance.”
Taking positives from Munich
The comments reflect a dressing room that sees more in the performance than just a share of the spoils. Arsenal's strong opening spell and their response after going behind both point to a side capable of competing with Bayern over 90 minutes, even if they ultimately came up just short of victory.
Falling behind against a team of Bayern's quality and still finding a way back into the match is not a small thing, and Rice's intervention ensured that effort was not wasted. The draw keeps Arsenal unbeaten in this Champions League campaign against a side many would have expected to be beaten in Munich.
The task now for Odegaard and his teammates is turning performances like this one into results. Arsenal have shown they can match Bayern's intensity and quality for long periods; the next step is doing so for the full 90 minutes and coming away with the win rather than a hard earned point.
