Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard admitted the Gunners did not play with their normal energy as they crashed out of Europe at the hands of Sporting Lisbon.
Mikel Arteta's men hosted the Portuguese giants in the second leg of their Europa League last 16 clash. Midfielder Granit Xhaka put Arsenal in front, but Pedro Goncalves equalised for the visitors just after the hour mark, with a brilliant chip over Aaron Ramsdale.
Neither side could find a way through before the end of the 90 minutes, sending the game into extra-time and eventually to penalties. Gabriel Martinelli crucially missed the Gunners' fourth spot-kick, with Nuno Santos stepping up to send Sporting through.
Odegaard came off the bench during extra-time, but five of Arsenal's regular starters did play all 120 minutes. First-choice right-back Ben White was also forced to play all but the first nine minutes after Takehiro Tomiyasu was hit by injury early on.
Thomas Partey and Bukayo Saka also came off the bench before the 70 minute mark, with Arteta's side ending the game with nine of their first-choice starters. And concerningly, Odegaard admitted that his side did not carry the same energy as usual into the game.
"I think we did enough in some periods of the game but most of the game we weren't on the level we should be. We didn't play our best football. It was a tight game in the end, it could have gone both ways," the midfielder told BT Sport.
HAVE YOUR SAY! What went wrong for Arsenal against Sporting Lisbon? Comment below.
"They are a good team, we knew that, we were prepared. It was more about us today, we didn't play the way we normally do with the same energy we normally do. Now we have to look forward.
"We have to remember it's been a great season, it's a big blow to go out of this competition. But now we look forward to the league, that's all we can do now.
"We win and lose together. It doesn't matter. When we're winning everyone is happy, when we lose we have to pick up the spirit. We win and lose together."
With the Gunners now out of all cup competitions, Odegaard has urged his side to put their full focus on the Premier League title. And he urged them to push through the pain barrier for Sunday's trip to Crystal Palace.
“We have 11 finals to go and that’s it, that’s the main focus now. It starts already now in the dressing room to recover well and change the focus, so that’s what we have to do,” the Arsenal captain added.
“I guess some players are tired. The ones who played the whole game of course, but we’re going to recover well and make sure we come sharp for Sunday, that’s the only thing we can do now.
“We wanted to do something special in this tournament and so we’re disappointed. It’s done now, we can’t think too much about it, we have to move forward.”
