Arsenal told to strip Martin Odegaard of captaincy after PSG defeat

However, while there is still hope of getting a result during next week’s second leg in Paris, it was the performance of skipper Odegaard that commanded a lot of the post-match talking points. During the 90 minutes in north London, the 26-year-old failed to register a shot of any kind and created just the one chance for his team-mates.

As such, Mark Lawrenson, who won the European Cup with Liverpool in the 1980s, has called on Arteta to take the armband off the Norwegian playmaker following his PSG showing. Speaking to Paddy Power, the player-turned-pundit said: “The captain’s armband should be taken away from Martin Odegaard, so he can get back to focusing on his performances. We all know that he’s a good player, but he’s just had a six out of 10 season.

“If you gave Declan Rice the armband instead, you imagine that it wouldn’t affect his performances, especially considering he was captain at West Ham. I’d give it to Rice so Odegaard can focus on improving his performances.”

Rice not only has experience captaining West Ham, but he was the skipper when the Hammers ended their 58-year wait for a trophy with the 2023 Conference League triumph. What’s more, he has also captained England, doing so during last year’s Friendly against Belgium at Wembley.

Regardless, Odegaard will almost certainly captain Arsenal for next week’s visit to the Parc des Princes, as they look to overturn the one-goal deficit. Looking ahead to Wednesday’s crunch match, Arteta mused: “When you score a goal and concede one, you have to. But we did a lot of things very well as well.

“We had a spell in the first half and the game had phases. The first 15-20 minutes, especially them scoring so early in a great combination, playing when the margins as so small, the finishing is unbelievable. And then we had especially one issue that we corrected after 15-20 minutes and we sustained that for the rest of the game, which I think turned the game around. If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special and we’re going to have to do something special in Paris to be there.”