Martin Odegaard has not enjoyed his football this season.
The Norwegian midfielder was a key member of Real Sociedad last year but has hardly figured under Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid, a combination of injury and poor form preventing him from breaking into an elite midfield trident of Casemiro, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos.
Odegaard,que ni ha calentado,rompiendo a sudar después del partido pic.twitter.com/tsCKfM4trW
— Antonio Romero (@aromeroser) January 14, 2021
Odegaard didn’t even warm-up during Madrid’s Supercopa de Espana exit to Athletic Bilbao according to a report in Diario AS, but there was an interesting moment post-game.
Odegaard was filmed running on the La Rosaleda pitch as a warm-down, but he was the only unused substitute to do so. Marcelo, Eder Militao and Isco also didn’t come on, but they didn’t warm-down.
Zidane has changed tack in recent weeks, stemming Madrid’s poor early-season form by relying on a narrow group of players as opposed to a policy of rotation.
This has made it harder for him to break into the starting lineup as he hasn’t had the minutes to shine, but going by his attitude post-Athletic, it’s not for a want of effort.