Before every game at Emirates Stadium, Martin Odegaard lifts the lid on the mood in the camp via his captain’s notes published in the matchday programme.
Ahead of our home finale against Newcastle United, the skipper discusses our Champions League run coming to an end, what we can take from it, and why we want to finish the campaign with a flourish ahead of the summer break. Here is a snippet:
We’ve had a couple of weeks to reflect on going out of the Champions League, and of course the hurt and disappointment is still there. The main emotion is disappointment that we didn’t go all the way in the competition, because we really believed we could. It was a big goal for us, and when you are that close to a final, it’s really hard to take. But also there are mixed feelings because we did a lot of things really well, throughout the Champions League campaign.
We had some great results in Europe this season and it's good to know that we have the quality to be there. We beat Real Madrid 5-1 over two legs, we got to the semi-final that could have gone our way too, so we have to take a lot of good things from that.
If you compare it to last season, and the ties against Porto and also mainly the Bayern Munich one, it felt like we were at a higher level this season. We looked a lot better, more prepared and ready this time. But we have to take the lessons to be able to win these games when they are close, find a way to get through, because that’s the next step.
Right now our goal is clear – when you can’t finish first your aim is to get second. We've had some tough games against Newcastle this season and we haven't won against them for a while now, so we are determined to put that right today – it’s something we are all focused on.
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It’s our last home game – we have to finish strongly here. The reality is we didn’t do enough to finish top, so we have to at least finish strongly, and win these last two games to go into the summer with a good feeling.
At the end of the season I’ll have a week or so off before I join up with the national team for two games. After that we’ll have a proper break. It will be nice to spend time with family and friends and recharge the batteries ahead of next season.
I want to finish these notes with a huge thank you, to all of you, our brilliant supporters. Thank you for the support you’ve given us all season, and for creating some really special moments. The standout one for me is definitely the Real Madrid game here – the atmosphere was just unbelievable. So thank you all for always being there and getting behind the team.
Next season we need more from everyone. First of all, from us as players, we need to raise the level and the standards. We want to go on that journey with all of you, all together, so keep on supporting us and driving us forward. We really appreciate and depend upon it.
Read the rest of Martin's notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying the Arsenal v Newcastle United programme either around the stadium oronline.
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