Norwegian international Kristian Thorstvedt levelled the score at 1-1 after seven minutes of Sassuolo's Serie A meeting with Lazio on Tuesday, then was dismissed 24 minutes later. According to Dagbladet, the midfielder was shown a straight red card for stamping on the ankle of Lazio winger Mattia Zaccagni. The match was played on 27 October 2026, with the report published that evening.
At the time of writing, Lazio led 4-2, and Dagbladet noted that Sassuolo faced a difficult task to recover the game while a man short.
Why it matters
The dismissal leaves Sassuolo to play out the remainder of the match with ten men against one of the capital's leading clubs, a disadvantage the Norwegian outlet described as leaving the team in numerical inferiority. For Thorstvedt personally, the sending-off is his first of the season, and it arrives in the same fixture in which he had just produced his second goal in eight league appearances.
The contrast between the two moments — a seventh-minute equaliser and a red card before the half-hour — makes the evening a costly one for both player and club. A goal contribution from midfield is normally the headline; instead, the red card reshapes how the match is likely to be remembered and leaves Sassuolo managing a game from behind with reduced numbers.
Italian press condemn the challenge
Dagbladet cited the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, which characterised the incident in strong terms. According to that account, Thorstvedt was expelled for a very ugly tackle, going in studs first on the Lazio captain and leaving Sassuolo a man down.
The description places the challenge among the more serious fouls a referee can punish with a direct dismissal rather than a second booking. The reporting identifies Zaccagni as Lazio's captain as well as a wide player, underlining that the foul took out a senior figure in the opposition side.
Dagbladet's own summary of the episode was similarly direct, stating that Thorstvedt received a straight red card and marching orders after stamping on Zaccagni's ankle. The Norwegian outlet did not report any immediate details about the extent of Zaccagni's injury or whether he continued in the match.
A season tally interrupted
The numbers attached to Thorstvedt's evening are modest but telling. The goal against Lazio was his second in eight Serie A outings this campaign, and the red card was his first of the season, per Dagbladet. That combination — a player finding the net at roughly one goal every four league games while otherwise avoiding disciplinary trouble — makes the dismissal an outlier in his campaign so far.
The timing compounds the cost. Having pulled Sassuolo level early, Thorstvedt's removal forced the side to reorganise and absorb pressure against a Lazio team that went on to build a two-goal cushion. Dagbladet reported the scoreline as 4-2 in Lazio's favour at the time of publication, with the caveat that a comeback for the visitors would require a great deal given their numerical disadvantage.
The report did not specify the minute of Lazio's later goals, the identity of the other scorers, or any further disciplinary decisions. It also did not state whether Sassuolo made a substitution to compensate for the sending-off.
What to watch
Sassuolo must now see out the fixture a man light and assess what the suspension means for upcoming league matches, while Thorstvedt's availability for the Norwegian national team will depend on how the disciplinary process unfolds.
