Martin Odegaard responds to Jamie Carragher’s cheeky dig after Arsenal beat Liverpool

Martin Odegaard has responded to Jamie Carragher’s criticism of the post-match celebrations following the 3-1 victory over Liverpool.

Following the players’ embrace with the crowd at the Emirates Stadium, Odegaard opted to linger on the pitch for an extended period, even posing for photographs with club photographer Stuart MacFarlane.

Carragher expressed his frustration on air, stating, “You’ve secured the win, collected three points – head back to the tunnel.” The former Liverpool defender reiterated his disapproval on social media, going as far as humorously using a photo of Odegaard as his profile picture.

Martin Odegaard’s response to Carragher

But Odegaard has defended the celebrations, arguing that the celebrations simply signified how much the result meant to his side: “I think everyone who loves football and understands football, they know how much it means to win this game,” he argued.

“And if you’re not allowed to celebrate when you win, when are you allowed to celebrate? We’re happy and we’ll stay humble. After being at the top for so long last season, we always prefer to be at the top, of course.

“But we’re still in a good position, we showed today the quality we have in the team, in a big game, a lot to play for. It would have been a tough one for us to lose today – that would have left us eight points behind, but we really showed up and it was a great performance overall.”

The result cut the gap between the Gunners and the Premier League leaders to two points, but Manchester City can draw level with Mikel Arteta’s men if they beat Brentford on Monday night. And Odegaard also insisted the squad have learnt from last season, with their form derailing in the latter stages after leading City for the majority of the campaign.

“That’s what we have to show this season. We have to show that we learned something,” he continued. “The year before we missed the Champions League and we came back stronger, and last year was a tough ending for us and we have to do the same this year – come back and show that we’ve learned.”

Referring to his side still having 15 league matches to play, Odegaard added: “There’s still a long way to go. We have to stay humble and keep working hard. Still we have some areas to improve.”