Ødegaard Erupts at Bernardo Silva After Late Challenge in Portugal-Norway Clash

More than an hour after the final whistle, he was still limping on his way to the bus. That image sums up pretty well how the night ended for Martin Ødegaard in Oslo: angry, hurting and not entirely sure what had just happened to his ankle.

The captain of Norway and Arsenal took a late kick from Bernardo Silva in stoppage time of the Nations League match that Portugal won 2-1 on Sunday. The play was clear: Ødegaard had just played a long ball with his left foot from his own half when Silva arrived from behind him. The Portuguese midfielder raised his right foot late trying to cut out the pass and, with no chance of reaching the ball, ended up catching Ødegaard's left heel, sending him to the ground.

The challenge only earned a yellow card, something that didn't sit well with the Norwegian at all. Cameras caught him repeatedly shouting an insult in English at his old rival, someone he crossed paths with for years in the Premier League before Silva signed with Real Madrid this summer, arriving from Manchester City.

This has no place on a football pitch.Martin Ødegaard

Asked by Norwegian reporters about the challenge that had so angered Ødegaard, Silva first responded evasively, "What tackle?", according to a video circulated by the outlet Nettavisen. He then went a bit further.

That's football, my friend.Bernardo Silva

The friction between the two is nothing new. Silva spent nine seasons at Manchester City and picked up six Premier League titles, two of them ahead of an Arsenal side that finished runner-up in 2023 and 2024, with Ødegaard as captain both times. Last season, the Norwegian finally got to lift the London club's first Premier League title in 22 years, so there's plenty of recent history between the two.

Right now, on top of everything, Manchester City and Arsenal sit first and second in the table at the start of the Premier League season, a campaign that looks set to be shaped by the ongoing legal case the league has open against the "Citizens." Manchester City, backed by Abu Dhabi, has been accused of breaching financial rules over a nine-year span (2009-2018), largely tied to sponsorships linked to the emirate, as well as failing to cooperate with the investigation.

According to reports that have leaked out, an independent panel of judges has reportedly found City guilty of most of the 115 charges it faced, though it remains unclear whether that will put the club's already-won titles at risk once the sanctions hearing takes place. The club, for its part, denies any wrongdoing, and on Saturday its chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, sent a letter to fans insisting that "nothing has changed."

For now, Ødegaard and Silva have another chapter of this small rivalry still to come: they could cross paths again next Sunday in Lisbon, in the return leg of their Nations League group.