Erling Haaland posted a social media apology after Norway were put to the sword by Austria on Sunday.
With captain Martin Odegaard still unavailable after suffering an injury during the last international break, Haaland was handed the armband as Stale Solbakken's side looked to continue their unbeaten start in the Nations League.
After Marko Arnautovic opened the scoring for the hosts Norway responded well with Alexander Sorloth equalising before half-time.
However, once Arnautovic restored Austria's lead shortly after the interval the visitors went into total collapse and goals from Philipp Lienhart, Stefan Posch and Michael Gregoritsch sealed a 5-1 victory.
Following the game Haaland was approached by members of the Norwegian press as he prepared to leave the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz.
Erling Haaland captained the visitors, with usual skipper Martin Odegaard still unavailable through injury
Rather than face the music, the Manchester City star ignored their requests for comment before later apologising for his team's lacklustre performance social media.
'Sorry everyone, this was far too bad on my part.
'In November, we go for six points,' Haaland wrote on his Instagram story.
His decision was supported by his Norway team-mate Sander Berge who insisted that the team remains united despite suffering their heaviest defeat since a 6-0 drubbing by Germany in 2017.
'You can feel the disappointment now. We are a team in there, we stand in ups and downs regardless. The most important thing is that we are united.'
Despite the defeat Norway remain top of their Nations League group but now sit level on points with both Austria and Slovenia.
The Lions will complete their campaign when they travel to Slovenia before playing host to Kazakhstan next month.