Martin Odegaard’s situation in Zidane’s Real Madrid takes on strange overtones and Zidane’s public discourse of support goes on the one hand and his decisions on the other. Odegaard has disappeared from the map in the current plans of Marseille to the point that the Nordic did not even receive the instruction from his coach to warm up in a match, against Athletic, in which Madrid fell first 0-2 and then caressed the comeback after that Benzema target. Not for those. For dessert, for ‘punishment’ or who knows if motu proprio In the form of personal vindication, the Norwegian was the only substitute who did not play at La Rosaleda (the others were Marcelo, Militao and Isco) who jumped onto the grass of the Malaga stadium after elimination to exercise with two physios of the club. A meaningful image.
The paradox, in theory, is that Zidane expanded on explaining Odegaard’s situation just in the run-up to these Super Cup semifinals when he was asked about how little he uses his pupil. “It is circumstantial, Martin will triumph in Madrid”Zizou assured. Between December and January last Odegaard only saw 77 minutes in the painful 2-0 against Shakhtar in Ukraine and even less, 5 testimonial minutes, against Celta in the League. Nothing else. He is the 19th footballer in the squad in game time and he was only seen more than Mariano, Militao, Jovic and Odriozola. An almost null presence considering that Zidane even looked for a drawing change to accommodate the Norwegian in a kind of 4-2-3-1 to exploit his movements as a playmaker. In that slate design, Odegaard was the titular in La Cerámica and San Siro. That has been two and a half months and it seems like another completely different movie.
A ‘signing’ that does not play
It is especially striking when Madrid is putting aside rotations and Zidane plays it to a squad of 14. Odegaard has passed to not count as the natural replacement of Modric that is. Nor as an option to alter the game with your creativity. Odegaard had his second year on loan at Real Sociedad that all the parties had agreed to be productive in this Madrid 2020-21 without James or Bale and that he did not plan to go to the market due to the pandemic. The result is that, at the moment, he has not yet been seen 400 minutes (he has 387 ‘) to be able to assess his ability for the first time as a full-fledged first team footballer. A slowdown to evolution that did come showing last year at the Reale Arena, where he was on loan to Real as the best player in the first round in LaLiga.
In any case, he run-secret in Valdebebas is that the Norwegian’s training sessions have not been at their best in recent months. Veterans clothe him in this moment of footballing uncertainty. “Martin has to work hard, show that he can make a difference and he will find his niche,” Modric advised. While that new opportunity arrives, Odegaard is the only one who comes out to sweat at La Rosaleda after a stick that leaves Madrid without revalidating the Super Cup. The first title at stake, of the four to which Madrid aspired at the beginning of 2021, has evaporated while the club does not plan to sign in January, it has let Jovic and Odegaard go … he only goes out for a run after the games.
