In the aftermath of our Champions League final defeat, Martin Odegaard feels that once the dust settles from our shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, there’s so much to be proud of this season.
Our Premier League champions came so close to completing an incredible double, as after remaining unbeaten in all 14 games to the final, they drew 1-1 with the holders after 120 minutes in Budapest, but a penalty shootout loss meant that we finished runners-up in the competition for the second time in our history.
But having skippered us to quarter-final, semi-final and runners-up finishes in the last three Champions League campaigns, Martin wants us to use the pain of the defeat as motivation to drive us forward and enjoy even better moments in 12 months’ time.
“It's painful at the moment, but when you look at the bigger picture, we've had an incredible season,” he said. “We won the league for the first time in 22 years, and of course, being this close today as well.
“We need to take our time in order to get over this loss. The season's been amazing in a lot of different ways, we just couldn’t quite do the double, but we have to be proud of our performance.
“We've done some incredible things and we had a great run in the Champions League as well. We just have to use the feeling that we have now and also the positive feelings we have from this season to reflect on all of it, and make sure we come back even stronger in the next season. There are lots of good things to take and some things for sure in Europe as well.”
The squad will return to north London on Sunday to see hundreds of thousands of supporters line the streets of Islington to welcome them back and celebrate their achievements this season.
The Premier League trophy will be proudly displayed from our bus for all to see, and Martin believes that everyone will benefit from the event as we begin to look back at 2025/26 with the fondness it deserves.
“We have to celebrate the title with our supporters - they deserve that,” he added. “I think we deserve that. We've done something incredible together and of course, it would have been even better with the double.
“But still, it's an incredible achievement and we're looking forward to seeing all our supporters tomorrow.”
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