Pros and cons in Odegaard's competitive debut

Posted Monday, February 09, 2015 by Marca.com

Martin Odegaard has had his first taste of competitive football at his new club after playing the last 20 minutes of Real Madrid Castilla's 2-2 home draw against Bilbao Athletic at their Alfredo Di Stefano stadium.

Everybody was keen to catch a glimpse of the 16-year-old Norwegian. So much so, that the 2,790 fans inside the ground amounted to Castilla's second-biggest crowd of the season. As well as interest from the stands there was huge expectation inside the press box, where one could hear the English chatter of the journalists who had gathered to cover Odegaard's debut first-hand.

Although many people thought Zinedine Zidane might include him in his starting line-up, Odegaard began the game on the bench, where he stayed until he was told to warm up on 50 minutes. The moment everybody had been waiting for came in the 70th minute when he finally stepped out on to the pitch. Without any pressure, his first touch of the ball showed his outstanding vision. However, despite all his good intentions, he played an unfortunate part in Bilbao Athletic's second goal of the game when he failed to fully commit to clearing a ball which eventually found its way into Castilla's net.