Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard receives public apology from opponent after his horrific ankle injury

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Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard injured his ankle while playing for Norway against Austria.

The midfielder is one of his club and country’s most important players, and to see him leave the pitch near tears was a really sad sight.

Odegaard has since been spotted with crutches, and his availability for the North London Derby against Tottenham is now in doubt.

Now, the opposition player who was involved in the tackle that led to Odegaard’s injury has broken his silence on social media.

Christoph Baumgartner apologises to Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard after his injury

No player would intentionally injure an opponent.

Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner is no different, and the RB Leipzig star had no idea that Odegaard would suffer such a bad injury after he challenged him.

The Arsenal skipper was trying to get away from Baumgartner and the Austrian lunged in to recover the ball. That, inadvertently, led to Odegaard twisting his ankle.

Norway national team’s doctor has confirmed that Odegaard has suffered an ankle sprain, and further tests have been scheduled to determine the extent of the injury.

As the Norwegian waits to find out the results, Baumgartner has issued a classy apology to the Arsenal number eight for his role in what happened.

He wrote in his Instagram Story: “Hi guys. I would like to sincerely apologise to Martin Odegaard.

“It was never my intention to injure this fantastic player. I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery. Come back stronger.”

How long could Odegaard be out for?

The extent of Odegaard’s injury has still not been confirmed by Arsenal or Norway, but it has to be said that it didn’t look great.

The midfielder seems very likely to miss the North London Derby, and it has been claimed that there are fears Odegaard could be out for a month.

If that is true, the Arsenal captain will miss the games against Tottenham, Atalanta, Manchester City, Bolton, Leicester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Southampton.

That would be a huge blow for Arsenal as they have no natural replacement for Odegaard now having sold Emile Smith Rowe and loaned out Fabio Vieira.

We will find out more about Odegaard’s injury in Mikel Arteta’s press conference on Friday.