IT remains one of the most iconic substitutions in Real Madrid’s long and illustrious history.
With 58 minutes on the clock on the final day of the 2014-15 LaLiga season and with Real leading Getafe 5-3 at the Bernabeu, Cristiano Ronaldo’s No 7 lit up the fourth official’s board.
Replacing the Portuguese legend, who had scored a first-half hat-trick, was No 41 Martin Odegaard, the youngest Los Blancos player to make a competitive appearance at 16 years and 157 days.
It is a record that still stands a decade later.
With manager Carlo Ancelotti serving a suspension up in the stands, it was trusted assistant Paul Clement who orchestrated the substitution from the dugout.
English coach Clement, 53, told SunSport: “I’ve got a really nice picture at home.
“I’m in the background but you can see Cristiano welcoming Martin on to the pitch and he gets a good welcome from the crowd.
“Carlo didn’t come down to the dressing room at half-time. We spoke on the phone.
“He said, ‘Let’s do the substitution’. I didn’t tell Martin but I did tell Cristiano.
“Cristiano asked, ‘Who’s going to come on for me?’ I told him and he said, ‘OK’. I told Martin to go and enjoy it.
“Play simple. The last thing he needed was to be bombarded with information. What a moment for a young man to make his debut.
“The youngest player in the history of the club, at the Bernabeu, 80,000 fans, coming on for arguably one of the greatest players ever. A special debut, for sure.”
Nearly a decade on and Odegaard, now 26, is preparing to lead Arsenal out in a Champions League quarter-final against Ancelotti’s Real Madrid tomorrow.
Memories will come flooding back. The Norwegian has said his headline-making £3.5million switch from Stromsgodset to Madrid in 2015 was the making of him — turning down the likes of Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Liverpool in the process.
But he is the first to admit he struggled and there were those who believed it would break him.
In his 2016 autobiography Quiet Leadership, Ancelotti described the move as a “PR exercise”.
He wrote: “[Odegaard] could go on to be the best player in the world after I’m gone, but I’m not interested in the signing. He is being recruited for the future, for other managers after my time.”
On top of that, Odegaard — who already had three senior caps for Norway — was walking into one of the most intimidating dressing rooms in world football with Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema.
Clement remembers the media frenzy that followed.
He explained: “Madrid is not an easy club to say ‘no’ to. You’re never sure when it’s going to come around again.
“There are many players a lot of people will not even remember or know the names of because Madrid was too big for them and they didn’t make the grade. But Martin dealt with it very well.
“I’m sure it was quite daunting. You never know what’s going on internally with somebody. He was quiet, humble but good to coach.
“In training, he could hold his own with his technical quality. He was a sensation, wasn’t he? He had the dedication, too.
“I would work alongside him. He was constantly practising his weaker foot, passing over different ranges, finishing . . .”
Odegaard’s arrival not only ruffled Ancelotti’s feathers but also those of Zinedine Zidane, who was coaching Madrid’s Castilla reserve team and was forced to pick the young rookie despite him spending most of the week training with the first team.
Cristiano asked, ‘Who’s going to come on for me?’ I told him and he said, ‘OK’. I told Martin to go and enjoy it.
Paul Clement
Clement, who left Madrid in May 2015 following Ancelotti’s sacking, said: “We tried to find a balance but it was not an ideal situation. It was probably a bit weird for Martin.”
By December 2020, Odegaard was 22 and had played just 489 minutes for Madrid in almost six years, having been on loan at Dutch sides Heerenveen and Vitesse, plus LaLiga outfit Real Sociedad, before a six-month stint at Arsenal from January 2021 that led to a permanent £30m switch that summer — two months after Ancelotti’s Madrid return.
So, the question remains: was joining Madrid so young the right decision?
Clement said: “I’d be interested to speak to him now, as a grown man, about how he was feeling inside.
“I don’t think there was any doubt about the talent. It was just his physical maturity, understanding of the game.
“When I look back, the best move for him would have been at a club like Ajax. He would have played regularly, really developed.
“But the loan moves he took at that time in his career, he needed. He had to take a couple of steps back to go forward. He’s shown great resilience in doing that.
“You look at what he is now — he’s an elite player at a great club. It worked out well for him.
“I was thinking the other day whether Martin could play in Real Madrid’s current team? Yeah, for sure.”
Read the full article here
