Work Text:
What can you learn from your opponent?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martin Ødegaard (born 17 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Norway national team. Known for his vision and passing, he is regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world.
Ødegaard began his senior club career at age 15 in 2014, playing for Strømsgodset; he set the Tippeligaen record for its youngest goalscorer, and in 2015, signed for Real Madrid in a transfer worth an initial €4 million (Kr. 35 million), where he set the club record for its youngest player. After enduring sporadic playing time, Ødegaard joined Eredivisie clubs Heerenveen and Vitesse, and La Liga club Real Sociedad, on successive loans between 2017 and 2019, winning the Copa del Rey with Real Sociedad in 2019. Beginning in 2020, he broke into the Real Madrid first team permanently and has since won three La Liga titles, two FIFA Club World Cups, two UEFA Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, and the Copa del Rey.
> Club career
[...]
2020 - 2022: First-team breakthrough
Following his successful loan spell with Real Sociedad, Real Madrid recalled Ødegaard for the 2020-21 season. Under the tutelage of Kroos and Modric, he quickly became a key squad player, making 20 appearances across all competitions before the winter break. A minor injury to Kroos in the second half of the season moved Odegaard into the starting lineup; in his first ten games starting in midfield for Madrid, Odegaard registered five assists and set the La Liga record for most chances created in a match that season. He finished the season with three goals and ten assists across all competitions. Though Madrid experienced their first trophyless season since 2009-10, Odegaard’s emergence was widely regarded as an unexpected bright spot. Ahead of the 2021-22 season, with two years remaining on his deal, Odegaard extended his contract with Real Madrid to 2026.
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2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification: Norway vs Moldova - Pre-Match Press Conference
15 June 2021
Attendees:
Stale SOLBAKKEN
Martin ODEGAARD
Excerpt starting 2:38
SOLBAKKEN: Yes, we had a lot of talks about it for a while now, it was a very important decision to make. I had many Zoom calls with the staff and with the team. With Martin as well. I think it was a very easy choice, in the end. Martin was very ready, he works so hard, on the pitch and off the pitch, he leads—leads by example, and he, of course, started so young. He is only twenty-three and already he has years of experience playing for Norway. And you can see recently, this season for Madrid, he has played very well, it showed us that we made the right choice. It was a easy choice.
REPORTER: And Martin, can we just get—over here, yep—as mentioned, you’ve recently re-signed your contract with Real Madrid. Do you see yourself unseating Toni Kroos or Luka Modric in midfield in the upcoming years?
ODEGAARD: Eh, I don’t think that’s fair. Unseating is not—not the word I would use. Toni and Luka, they are the best midfielders in the world and it’s a privilege to play with them every day, in training, in practice, we have different strengths and I try to learn from them as much as I can. I think, you know, I had a chance to prove myself, I had a good season, and now all I can do is play even better. [LAUGHS] I’m captain of Norway, not Madrid. Can we maybe ask some questions about our national team?
[LAUGHTER]
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r/soccer • 19 November 2021
Real Madrid [1] - 0 Getafe- Rodrygo 16'
u/Bluntest-Knife
Clinical from Rodrygo
u/user92667
VAMOSSSSSSSSS
u/davi7930
That assist from Odegaard is absolutely disgusting
u/brewster-kaf
Ode-Modric-Casemiro-Valverde diamond is our cheat code tbf
u/davi7930
I’m an Arsenal fan. Would kill to have a midfield anywhere near that level of quality, we desperately need an orchestrator. If I could take any player from your XI it’d be Odegaard in a heartbeat.
u/brewster-kaf
Only chance of him ever leaving is if he runs out of patience waiting for Kroos or Modric to retire mate
u/Madridista007
Early days, but I actually think Ancelotti’s been doing a pretty good job of balancing their minutes so far. I get the sense Zizou only kept playing Martin last season because Toni’s injury took longer than expected to heal, and if he’d come back when he was supposed to I don’t think we’d have seen Martin much in the run-in
u/divebomb
well, Modric is 45, so
u/davi7930
A man can dream.
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Madrid Xtra
@MadridXtra • 10 Jan 2022
Mid-season G/A update 🔥🏆 🔥
[Image description: a screenshot of Real Madrid’s starting XI on Sofascore. Next to the lineup is a table of the club’s top three goalscorers and assist providers. Karim Benzema, Vini Jr., and Marco Asensio lead the team in goals, while Martin Odegaard, Luka Modric, and Karim Benzema lead in assists.]
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TWENTY QUESTIONS with MARTIN ØDEGAARD 💥
@ESPN FC • Uploaded 13 May 2022
500K views
Excerpt starting 1:15
ESPN: Who’s most likely to be a coach in the future?
ODEGAARD: Luka, for sure.
ESPN: Yeah?
ODEGAARD: Yeah, just the way he thinks, the way he sees the game. When I first learned the midfield he really helped me, he was such a good teacher, and in training he would show me the structures. And then of course playing with him, he directs not just me but the rest of the team as well. I think he’s like me, we don’t shout a lot, but he knows how to explain, how to give you space to do it yourself, and I learnt so much from him as a player and as a leader. I think he mentioned to me once he wants to start his—what do you call it—the badges?
ESPN: Coaching badges, yeah!
ODEGAARD: Yeah, he would be a great coach.
ESPN: Next question—oh, this is a fun one. Who’s your best friend on the Madrid team?
ODEGAARD: Ahhhhh. [LAUGHS]
ESPN: [LAUGHS]
ODEGAARD: I like them all!
ESPN: Nah, nah, that doesn’t count! One name!
ODEGAARD: If I had to choose…I would say Fede (Valverde). We’re the same age and we broke into the first team around the same time. He’s a great guy, he really cares about his family, we’re partners in midfield so we spend a lot of time together in training. Off the pitch as well, we get along really well.
ESPN: Yeah, you seem so different, but you guys are really close. A lot of fans actually call you fire and ice, y’know—he’s Uruguayan, you’re Norwegian…
ODEGAARD: [LAUGHS] Really? Yeah, I get it.
Top comments
@holdinghishand
Who’s here after yesterday’s match?
@FiveThirtyFive
Odegaard-Valverde bromance is alive and well…Ode-Verde?
@river-styx
footballers: literally almost make out after one of them provides a game-tying assist
also footballers: yeah we get along really well
@arthurfw89
madrid winning the whole CL with the power of friendship
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[A carousel of photos: Martin Odegaard lifting the Champions League trophy, laughing. The Real Madrid squad cheering in delight on the podium, medals around their necks, as golden confetti rains down. The Real Madrid midfielders posing with the trophy, caught mid-triumphant-shout. Odegaard, Valverde, Rodrygo, Vini Jr, and Camavinga with their arms around each other, grinning. Odegaard and Modric standing over a dead ball, deep in discussion. Odegaard with his leg drawn back to cross the ball.]
odegaard.98 HALA MADRID 🤍
fedevalverde Y NADA MÁSSSSS
lukamodric10 El mago 🤍🤍
madridxtra_ INCREÍBLE
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Real Madrid C.F.
@realmadrid
Comunicado Oficial: Casemiro y Toni Kroos
https://www.realmadrid.com/es-ES/noticias/club/comunicados/comunicado-oficial-14-06-2022
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Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
🚨🇪🇸 Toni Kroos has played his last match for Real Madrid and will retire from professional football.
Casemiro will leave for Manchester United as previously reported.
Legends of the game. #KCM ❤️🩹
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THANK YOU, TONI | Real Madrid LEGEND
@RealMadrid • Uploaded 20 June 2022
923K views
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In Martin Ødegaard, Madrid have found a magician to succeed maestro Luka Modric
Jonathan Liew for The Guardian May 10, 2023
There was a moment, in Real Madrid’s victory over Osasuna last night to secure their twentieth Copa del Rey, when you would have been forgiven for seeing double. Luka Modric had just come on for Federico Valverde to join Martin Odegaard and Aurelien Tchouameni in midfield. For a second, prowling in front of the holding pivot and passing the ball between themselves, blond and light on their feet, Odegaard and Modric seemed like two avenging angels sent to deliver divine judgment.
After a few minutes of poking around Modric split Osasuna’s defence open with a precisely placed through ball that was latched onto by Vinicius Jr. in almost a perfect replica of Odegaard’s assist for Rodrygo’s second goal. Maestro and magician. They are, of course, not exact copies of each other—that would be a bit much even for Madrid: Modric has plied his trade as a playmaker, deadly from deep, while Odegaard continues to do his best work as a 8-10 hybrid, picking the ball up in tight spaces and producing magic from nothing. A rabbit out of a hat. A penny from behind your ear. A generational talent just in time for your previous one to hand over the reins.
And really, how do Madrid keep doing it? Plucking child prodigies from the pits of obscurity at age fifteen and paying peanuts for boys that somehow shake out good enough to replace your greatest midfielders like they never left? Valverde cost them sixteen million Euros, Odegaard four. The departures of Kroos and Casemiro last summer seem to have barely fazed them; already Camavinga and Tchouameni have made the step up and settled into their new roles. There have been some teething problems: they are on track to finish with their lowest La Liga points tally in seven years. But it’s Madrid we’re talking about here, a club for whom a bad season still means three trophies, second place in the league, complete and utter clarity as to in what direction their future should head.
Rodrygo scored the brace, but it is Odegaard, with the pre-assist for his first goal and the assist for his second, that should get the flowers. Like some lovechild of Kroos and Modric, he has one’s strengths and the other’s weaknesses; like neither, he is of an ilk all his own. “The best role model I could have asked for,” the Norwegian wrote in the club’s farewell tribute video to Kroos. El pajarito, Kroos called him in return, smiling like a proud father. Little bird. An intentionally ironic descriptor, perhaps, for Odegaard, who has left the nest and been tempered in fire, who at twenty-four has already experienced the rise and fall and rise again of a professional football career.
Ageless as he is, Modric can’t run forever. As Osasuna mounted their final counterattack of the game and Madrid’s back four doggedly tracked back, Modric watched, hands on his hips. Despite having just run the midfield for 90 minutes Odegaard tugged his socks up, put his head down, and started sprinting. Much has been written on Modric and Odegaard, how one feels like a ghost of the other, but standing there and staring after him, expression a mix of pride and consternation, Modric looked like a falconer lifting his arm, letting a hawk loose upon the world. Little bird, all right.
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[Image: Erling Haaland mid-leap, punching the air. In the background, Phil Foden, İlkay Gündoğan, and Bernardo Silva are running towards him. The scoreline at the bottom of the graphic shows a 3-0 win for Manchester City against Leeds United in GW33.]
premierleague CITY ARE YOUR 22/23 PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 🩵 Guardiola’s side mathematically secures their THIRD consecutive title following Arsenal’s draw to Southampton earlier this afternoon 🏆
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Arsenal
@Arsenal • 19 August 2023
Your starting lineup for the first game of the 2023-24 season ❤️
[Image: the Arsenal starting XI against Nottingham Forest. Ramsdale; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, White; Xhaka, Rice, Havertz; Martinelli, Nketiah, Saka.]
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judebellingham • 37m
[A photo of Camavinga, Tchouameni, and Vini Jr across the table, heads bent together. They’re all looking at something on Tchouameni’s phone. All three of them are tagged, in thin white font, at the bottom right corner of the story.]
judebellingham • 32m
[The video starts, slightly blurry: Camavinga and Odegaard are playing two-touch football, each of them standing at opposite sides of a resort swimming pool. They go back and forth for a solid six turns before Camavinga sends the ball back short. Before it can land in the water, Valverde runs into the frame with a loud whoop, wraps his arms around Odegaard, and cannonballs both of them into the pool. Behind the camera, someone starts wheezing with laughter as Odegaard and Valverde emerge, spluttering and sopping wet, and Odegaard tackles Valverde right back into the water.]
judebellingham • 25m
[A selfie of Bellingham himself, sunglasses on, in the passenger seat of a helicopter. A pair of large headphones are clamped over his ears; he’s making a face at the camera.]
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r/Gunners • 25 April 2024
Players’ Instagram reactions to today’s 5-0 win against Chelsea
[A series of five images. Declan Rice’s story: a selfie of himself and Kai Havertz shoulder to shoulder in the locker room, both sweaty and smiling. Rice’s hand is in Havertz’s hair. Declan Rice’s post: an image of Havertz on his knees at the corner flag, grinning and saluting the crowd. Rice has one hand curled around the back of Havertz’s neck and the other gesturing at him, face bright with disbelief and delight. The caption reads: “london is RED ⭐”. David Raya’s story: a repost of the club’s scoreline graphic. Bukayo Saka’s story: an image of himself embracing Havertz, captioned with “This guy ❤️❤️”. Leandro Trossard’s story: an image of Ben White with his arm slung around Trossard’s shoulders, captioned with “#COYG”.]
u/saligoat
STOP! STOP! THEY’RE ALREADY DEAD!
u/davi7930
I can’t tell you how long I waited for days like these
u/davi7930
Six hundred eighty-one days, fifty minutes, and nine seconds
u/artetabloid
This right here is a man who understands the bit
u/bergkamp-ian
thank God Xhaka agreed to stay man. imagine missing out on this
u/canon-defender
Chelsea refusing to name the goalscorer is the funniest fucking thing I’ve seen this week
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odegaardism
scandinavian boy SHOCKS real madrid by playing PERFECT FOOTBALL
#naya liveblogs #NUMBER FIFTEEN BABYYYYY #martin assist rodrygo goal in a ucl final call that my brand #on an unrelated note i can’t believe jude is finishing as our top scorer…..we are not a serious institution
38 notes
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DECLAN RICE | 23/24 PLAYER OF THE SEASON ❤️
@Arsenal
180K views • 4h ago
Top comments
@tapiocarollz
We really did get him half price lol
@LebonJames
22 G/A as a CDM in his debut season for us is INSANITY. Combine that with how he’s constantly saved our asses in big games (off the top of my head, United, City, Pool) scored last minute winners (Luton, Brighton, Wolves) and made our midfield look like it had some semblance of structure, that margin is totally deserved. What a signing.
@Gooner1611
Rightful winner #COYG ❤️❤️
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[A carousel of images: Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard on a pitch, sitting on a cooler box together, legs outstretched; Odegaard is saying something animatedly while Havertz is looking down, smiling. Rafael Leao and Marcus Rashford shirtless and standing around a free-kick setup; Leao is gesturing at the dummy. Florian Wirtz in a singlet with one leg extended mid-air, cushioning the ball on his shin. A close-up on Adidas Predators and an Adidas water bottle, lying in the grass next to a football. Havertz and Wirtz captured from behind, wading waist-deep in the pool; Wirtz’s head is slightly turned towards the camera such that the sun lines his side profile in gold.]
@icapturedaily Summer in Portugal #sportsphotography #samegamedifferentlevel #ElevateWithEdge
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odevertzes
[Image: Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz lying on the same pitch as before, legs up against a low brick wall in a calf stretch. Havertz’s eyes are closed against the sun. Odegaard’s face is turned sideways, towards Havertz. He looks horribly fond.]
WHAT THE FUCK?
#how do they even know each other????? #edit: just googled and apparently it’s one of those pre-pre-season training camps #that random footballers just show up and go to #it’s giving summer camp fling #martin odegaard #kai havertz #do they get a ship tag now???? never imagined this would happen
16 notes
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James
@JamesOMalley • 2 Aug 2024
For @TheAthletic: Luka Modric to become Real Madrid captain for 24-25 season following the departure of Nacho Monreal. Dani Carvajal, Martin Ødegaard and Federico Valverde officially confirmed as part of the leadership group, will serve as vice-captains. Read here: https.www....
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[A carousel of three photos: a closeup on Declan adjusting the Premier League captain’s armband, turned towards the camera. Declan in training, hands on his hips, listening intently to Mikel Arteta, who’s gesturing further upfield. Declan in the Arsenal 24/25 home kit, pointing directly at the camera. He’s smiling.]
declanrice such an honour. let’s do you proud ❤️🤍
bukayosaka87 Skipperrr 🔥💪🏿
gabrielmagalhaes__ My captainnnn 🔥🔥🔥
kaihavertz29 🔥❤️
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This week in football: the Manchester derby, Postecoglou’s reckoning, and a classic in the making
David Hytner and Jonathan Wilson
David vs Goliath, if David wasn’t that small and Goliath was weaker than usual
What it says on the tin. On Friday, Arsenal will play Real Madrid for only the third time in their history. Arsenal’s midfield has gone unaddressed for a few windows now: they’ve hoped to replace Granit Xhaka, who left to Bayer Leverkusen on amicable terms last summer after turning in the season of his life, with Fabio Vieira, a solid squad player who has struggled to make the leap to the starting eleven. Still, they’ve been bailed out by their rock-solid defense, who have conceded the least amount of xG in the Premier League this season. Meanwhile, the addition of Kylian Mbappe has Madrid running a front three so left-wing one could mistake it for a socialist; why spend prudently to replace the profiles you actually need when you can sign the biggest names in football for a hundred million Euros? A question only Madrid can answer, too loaded with sheer individual brilliance to ever really fail. Their top-heavy attack has been kept afloat by its young guns in midfield, resulting in a disjointed XI susceptible to being caught in transition. If ever there was a time to dethrone the kings of Europe, this is it.
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BBC Sport—Champions League quarterfinals: Arsenal vs Real Madrid • live updates
6:20 p.m. Good evening from North London! Gabriel’s return from injury means Arsenal’s backline are back at full strength just when they needed it most. Arteta’s men will seek to score first and hold on tight: of their fifteen wins this season, eight have been by a scoreline of 1-0. Mbappe to Madrid hasn’t been the Cristiano-level move everyone was expecting, but their attack is still firing on enough cylinders to trouble Arsenal.
6:31 p.m. Here’s how the teams line up for the evening.
Madrid (4-2-2-2): Courtois; Alaba, Rudiger, Ascencio, Valverde (C); Odegaard, Camavinga; Bellingham, Rodrygo; Vini Jr, Mbappe. Coach: Carlo Ancelotti.
Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya; Lewis-Skelly, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Merino, Rice (C), Vieira; Martinelli, Havertz, Saka. Coach: Mikel Arteta.
6:45 p.m. Valverde captains the Madrid side in the absence of Modric and Carvajal. No particular surprises there. Tchouameni misses this leg after he picked up a yellow against Atletico, meaning Odegaard drops deep to partner Camavinga in the double pivot. Gabriel back in the side for Arsenal after missing the previous eight games with a thigh strain.
7:20 p.m. Handshakes all around after the anthem plays out. Merino and Odegaard exchange some friendly words: it’s a reunion for them, teammates at Real Sociedad some years ago. Who would’ve thought they would reunite this way.
7:30 p.m. And they’re off!
*
Sky Sports • UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS
65 min WRIGHT: Alaba takes the ball off Vieira—Alaba to Camavinga, Camavinga to Odegaard. The counter’s on—Rice comes out of absolutely nowhere—
[LOUD GROAN OF SYMPATHY]
WRIGHT: Puts in the tackle and sends the ball out for Arsenal! They’ll have a look at this, I think.
BARNES: Yeah, but that looked miles clean to me, he just took the man out with the ball.
WRIGHT: Bellingham’s come over now. Getting up in Declan Rice’s face—understandable, honestly, was a clean tackle but he’s sticking up for his teammate. Rice keeping his cool, walking over to Odegaard to help him up. Exchanging a few words. They hug it out!
BARNES: Valverde’s having a chat with the ref, and VAR will have a look at that.
WRIGHT: In no universe is that a yellow, Gary.
BARNES: Yeah, I’ll be damned if it is. Looked worse on the slow-mo, but these tackles are Rice’s bread and butter. He times them to perfection. There’s Taylor, yep, and the VAR says nothing doing! And Mikel Arteta will breathe a sigh of relief. Rice among three Arsenal players hoping to avoid a yellow tonight, which will bar them from the second leg.
90+3 min BARNES: And that’s the whistle! That’s the whistle! The Emirates erupts—and here in North London it is Arsenal two, Real Madrid one! Goals in the first half from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka ensure the Gunners remain the only English team never to have lost to Real Madrid. Vinicius Junior pulled one back for Madrid just after half-time, but the Arsenal backline proved to be too solid even for Madrid’s firepower. The Gunners will take a one-goal lead into the second leg at the Bernabéu in a week’s time.
*
“You never stop running, do you,” Declan hears, and he’s already turning, knows who it is before he looks. He’s got a bastard of an accent, Martin Odegaard: a little Spanish, a little Scandinavian, a bit of Stourbridge from—of all people—Jude fucking Bellingham. It’s even more pronounced now in the quiet of the locker room, without the chants and the sound of his own ragged breathing to drown it out.
“You know how it is.” Rueful smile. Gracious in victory, Declan reminds himself. Odegaard plays like a demon; he’s not half as fragile as he looks, under the sharp cheekbones, the blond hair. Where Declan held him his arms had been corded with muscle, lean and strong.
“We call him horse, actually,” Myles chimes in. Declan barely restrains the urge to turn around and count how many of them are watching. There’s a ripple of barely-stifled laughter.
“Really,” Odegaard says. One eyebrow goes up.
His captain’s shirt is lying in Declan’s cubby. B had started it, really, by walking over to Vini. The nearest bloke had been Fede Valverde, who caught Declan’s gaze and obligingly stripped his shirt off, armband and all. They’d exchanged pleasantries, the fabric damp with sweat in Declan’s hands, before Odegaard wandered over.
Valverde said something to him in Spanish. Odegaard just laughed, said something back, shoved him. They’d both turned back to Declan then, and Valverde had given him a rough clap on the back. Next time, we win, he said, genuine, and Declan returned his nod. Then it was just him and Odegaard, some ways off from the handshakes and the chatting.
Kai’s told me a lot about you, Declan said. Riding that adrenaline high that hadn’t faded even after the full-time whistle, waves of song rolling through the red sea of the Ems. He wanted to see that self-assuredness fall off Odegaard’s face, wanted him to keep looking at his bare chest with those blue, blue eyes.
Odegaard’s unashamed stare lifted to his face. He’s great. Smiled, like he knew something Declan didn’t. Declan disliked him immediately, wanted to hit him, wants to. Wants to—
“Nice assist,” he says instead. That’s pretty obvious, at least. Someone behind him snorts.
On him the training kit is about half as hideous as it is on anyone else. “You guys won,” Odegaard deflects amicably. God, he’s good.
Declan can see it: the second Odegaard’s gaze slides right past him. “You played well,” he adds, to someone over Declan’s shoulder, and the smile takes on a new note, something sweet and sly. He watched a documentary on big cats and their hunting habits after training once, finished it by himself after Kai dozed off on his couch halfway through, their plates of pasta forgotten on the coffee table. The camera had lingered on the ripple of the leopard’s muscles under its pelt, its sinuous, stalking movements. The deer, ears twitching, perched unsuspecting in the tall grass.
Declan pivots. Kai looks like how he feels, which is to say like he’s been dealt a heavy blow to the head with a blunt object. His eyes flick to Declan; Declan pulls a face that they both know means he's on his own. The entire dressing room has gone very quiet, but from the way Kai rises almost dazedly to his feet Declan could march Leo over and have him kiss Kai on the mouth and he’d barely notice. He blinks. In the time it took him to discard that thought Odegaard has somehow gone right up to Kai.
Kai opens his mouth. Closes it. Points weakly in B’s direction. “Our man of the match is over there.”
Odegaard huffs a laugh. “Agree to disagree,” he says, waves his hand. “No offense, Bukayo.”
“None taken, bro.” B presses his lips together to hold back a laugh and goes back to massaging his calf.
Odegaard holds out a hand, and when Kai takes it he’s pulled in for a hug. He really is so much shorter, Declan thinks. Buzzing in his ears. Just tall enough to fit right into the hollow of Kai’s neck. Kai pulls back, but Odegaard keeps his arm around Kai’s waist, tips his head up in the tight circle of their bodies, smiles at Kai small and sharp. Like holding a falcon in your hands, feeling its heart pulse right up against your fingertips, the sense of barely-leashed danger. The buzzing gets louder.
Distantly he hears someone clear their throat and realises it’s him. Odegaard lets go. Steps back. “Captain.” He nods at Declan, aims a more pleasant wave around the room. Every inch the perfectly polite vice-captain. “Great game. See you at the Bernabéu.”
“Yeah,” Declan says to the closing door. “See you.”
Silence. He catches the first two shirts thrown at him; the third, fourth, and fifth pelt Kai in the head instead. “Bro,” B says, grinning so hard he barely gets it out. “Bro.”
“You,” Wilo says accusingly to Kai, gone red in the face, “were not that good.”
*
r/Gunners • 10 April 2025
Havertz and Rice spotted driving into training together
[A video of a glossy black Porsche pulling into the driveway of London Colney. The car slows as it passes by the camera: through the window Declan Rice lifts one hand from the wheel to wave politely at the person filming. Behind him, Kai Havertz is visible in the passenger side, slouched in his seat and wearing a pair of sunglasses.]
u/saligoat
Does Kai know how to drive or
u/artetabloid
Yh im sure he does, probs just catching a lift or something
u/Geminnae
Why is this giving the morning after drive of shame 😭
u/Purple-Porpoise-7294
Havertz looks hungover as all hell lol
u/silkygermanman
reckon Mikel doesn't let them drink during the season anyway, must have just been a rough night
u/davi7930
Still got the second leg to go
*
[Image: A graphic of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Vini Jr, and Martin Odegaard in the white home kits of Real Madrid, photoshopped to look like they’re lining up on one side of a chess board. On the other side, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, and Kai Havertz are wearing the Arsenal black away kits, lined up similarly and staring back at them. Mikel Arteta and Carlo Ancelotti’s faces are superimposed in the background.]
433football
POLL: WHO WINS THE REMATCH AT THE BERNABÉU?
ARSENAL - 38%
REAL MADRID - 62%
*
[A carousel of images: Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber, Bukayo Saka, and Riccardo Calafiori in the mirror of a lift, flashing peace signs; Rice is holding the camera. Kai Havertz dozing off in the Arsenal private jet, head lolling to the side; one of his wired earphones has fallen out of his ear. William Saliba and Myles Lewis-Skelly climbing the steps to the jet, arms slung around each other. Saka in the Arsenal locker room, shirtless and grinning, holding his Champions League Man of the Match trophy. Rice sprawled out on a patch of grass, torso almost entirely covered by the large German shepherd and golden retriever that have climbed on top of it. Both dogs are licking his face. His smile is visible.]
dr.jpg behind the scenes 🎞️
*
The tunnel stinks faintly of concrete and sweat. Madrid’s been good, all things considered: he counted maybe five boos on their walk that morning. He’s gone: he wants to feel like this forever, the hot sick rush of waiting, feel it for every goddamn game. Sound filters back in. Just behind him Wilo’s talking to his French teammates, animated enough to drown out anyone within a ten-foot radius.
Someone jostles his arm. Declan looks down.
“I don’t do charity cases,” Martin Odegaard says.
Something about the careful way he enunciates it tips Declan off. “Jude tell you to say that?”
The laugh that startles from Martin’s throat is so undignified it feels like the first real thing about him. “Yes,” he says, and grins at Declan. “Is it working?”
Fuck Jude fucking Bellingham for picking up on it. Declan can feel him smirking from all the way back in the lineup. “No,” he says on autopilot, knowing his face gives him away regardless. Even under the harsh lighting Martin’s a warm tan from the Spanish sun, hair dark gold against the white of his kit. “Grey wasn’t your colour.”
“And you would look horrible in white,” Martin returns, equally quick. He gives the captain’s armband a light tap where it’s tight around Declan’s bicep and turns to go.
Declan doesn’t know why he does it. Kai’s gaze, maybe, so bright and expectant he has to glance over his shoulder. The faint roar of a crowd calling for his head. The look on Martin’s face, playful and teasing and for a single second blindingly, earnestly sincere. But he reaches out and catches Martin by the arm, and where his fingers close around it he can feel Martin’s pulse in the jump of his veins.
Martin looks down at where Declan’s touching him. Looks back up. Smiles in that pleased, Cheshire-cat way of his.
“Come to ours,” Declan says. Reckless with it. The buzzing a low, plucked-string thrum. “After.”
Martin’s expression sends an anticipatory little shudder down his spine. Like he knows something, something Declan doesn’t. He’s never made it easy for Declan and he’s not about to start now. The secret: that Declan knows, too. Knows they’re going to win.
“Maybe if you score two,” Martin says.
Declan laughs. Something hot and wild rises in his chest: excitement or desire or a certainty purer and fiercer than both of them combined. Overhead the Bernabéu rumbles, seventy thousand fans baying for blood. The ground vibrating beneath his feet and the team at his back and the impossible game, all of it happening here, here, now. The five-second cue flashes. Forever, and every game after that.
“Deal,” he says.