A captain's display from Martin Ødegaard was key to Arsenal achieving their biggest away win in the Champions League for 21 years.
That was the verdict of the UEFA Technical Observers' Group after the Norwegian midfielder delivered an outstanding, tempo-setting performance to help Arsenal inflict Sporting's first home loss since October last year.
FedEx Performance Zone
As highlighted in this analysis brought to you by FedEx, Ødegaard embodied the "intelligent" way that Arsenal found space which so pleased their coach Mikel Arteta. "You have to create that space, you have to earn it," Arteta told TNT Sports afterwards, and the following video clips from Tuesday's 5-1 triumph show how effectively Ødegaard drifted around the pitch at the Estádio José Alvalade, finding room to dictate the play from back to front.
In the Zone: The importance of Martin Ødegaard
The first example in the video begins with Ødegaard retreating to receive from his goalkeeper, David Raya, and then dropping deeper yet to collect another pass from William Saliba. From there he steps inside to deliver the line-breaking pass to Declan Rice which takes out Sporting's five-man front line.
As the sequence develops, Ødegaard moves higher to receive again and once more, he is not hurried; rather he sets the tempo, drawing the opponent before laying the ball off. Finally, we see him drift into the final third to receive again before lifting a ball over the back line to Kai Havertz, who is offside.
In the second clip, Ødegaard drops deep again to make himself available to his goalkeeper before then shifting into the central third where he shows admirable composure after receiving from Jurriën Timber. He is not rushed but surveys what is around him before progressing the ball into the final third with his pass out wide.
As it happened: Sporting 1-5 Arsenal
Once into the attacking third himself, he gets into an area to collect once more, and it is worth noting how he does not get drawn to the ball but finds the best position to receive from Bukayo Saka before attempting the through pass.
"We always found the space, the free man and had lots of solutions," said Havertz of Arsena's display and Ødegaard was central that, as highlighted by the Technical Observers' Group, which applauded the control he brought to Arsenal's game. "He worked very hard to always be available in space, creating big problems for Sporting's defensive structure. It was a typically reliable, high-quality technical display from him."
As well as ending the match with the second-most touches by any visiting player – with 75 from his 78 minutes on the pitch, he was second only to Timber (80), who played every minute – the 25-year-old ranked first in the metric of most opposition players bypassed with his passing (an accumulated total of 60). He had a major impact out of possession too, with the most counterpressures (nine) of any Arsenal player.
The third and final clip offers an example of this last aspect: after losing the ball, we see him apply pressure to help win it back immediately from Morten Hjulmand before then attacking the space in the final third. He beats a couple of men as he breaks into the box in determined fashion to earn the second-half spot kick which brought Arsenal’s fourth goal. In short, graft to match the craft with which he illuminated this memorable Lisbon night for the Gunners.