(The Bergen newspaper): – It’s my birthday today, so it was a slightly different celebration than I had imagined. But it’s going just fine, says the goalkeeper, who turns 25 on Monday.
About 25 minutes had been played in the match between YMCA and Brann when Brann striker Bård Finne’s foot hit the face of the Oslo team’s last chance.
– I saw that the ball entered the field, and thought that it was possible to walk on it. I also shouted to our stoppers that they had to take Finne out, but I got a shock when I saw that his foot was so high up…
Got Finne’s reaction
Ødegaard remembers the episode from Sunday’s match well.
– It is an accident on Bård’s part, and this is not something he does on purpose. He acts on instinct, and there are no bitter feelings there at all. I also watched the TV interviews after the match when he was concerned about how I had gone. I appreciated that, says the YMCA goalkeeper.
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Monday’s birthday boy won’t think too much about the discussion about the red card.
– Bård does not go directly to hurt me, but then the regulations say that it is a red card. Then it will be like that, concludes the YMCA player.
See the situation here:
The goalkeeper is much more concerned that he managed to register Finne’s foot just before the collision. Otherwise, the birthday could have looked completely different.
Had luck
– I somehow manage to register his foot, and manage to turn his head so that he hits the temple. I am very grateful for that right now. Because I was very lucky that he hit there, since it could have been a much more serious facial injury if the collision had happened elsewhere on the head, Ødegaard explains.
While his team and Brann finished the goalless game at Ekebergsletta, the YMCA goalkeeper sat in the emergency room and had ten stitches. He sporadically followed updates from the match.
– I think we should be satisfied with 0-0, despite the fact that we were one man down, says Ødegaard.
Bård Finne after the YMCA match:
He himself is over this week’s cup match against Sogndal, but the 25-year-old can be back for the weekend’s league round against FK Haugesund.
– It takes between seven and nine days for the stitches to come out, and before that there is a medical assessment as to whether I can play or not. We will have to take it in towards the weekend, but I hope that I will be with Haugesund, then we will see if I have to play with a helmet or something, says Ødegaard optimistically.