An early red card proves costly for FC Twente as they lose 0-2 to Lazio in Europa League

An early red card for FC Twente goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall proved costly for the Tukkers on Thursday night as they lost 0-2 to SS Lazio in the Grolsch Veste. Goals from Pedro and Gustav Isaksen gave the Italian team the victory.

The home side gave their all and were applauded off the pitch by the crowd in the stadium at the final whistle. The task already seemed a difficult one before the game as Lazio had won their first two matches in the competition.

It was made even harder when they were reduced to ten men within the first ten minutes. Goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall came out of his goal, but he was too late, which resulted in him taking down Boulaye Dia and the referee issuing him a red card.

The Italians went on the attack immediately, and they hit the post in the 26th minute. Fullback Adam Marusic’s cross missed every player in the box before coming back off of the goalpost.

Lazio took the lead midway through the first half. Matias Vecino found space on the wing, and he took advantage by playing a perfect pass inside the box to Pedro, who tapped it into the empty net. Twente thought they had gotten away with one at first as the linesman flagged for offside, but the VAR official overturned the decision.

Twente was sitting back, but it was not making much difference against the Romans as Lazio kept creating chances. Center-back Samuel Gigot was given an opportunity after a clever backheel by Loum Tchaouna, but substitute goalkeeper Przemysław Tytoń saved the attempt.

The away side missed a gigantic opportunity to double their lead in the 49th minute. Vecino turned provider again by playing a great cross to Luca Pellegrini. The fullback had a free volley from point-blank range, but he hit the crossbar.

Pellegrini missed another chance shortly after this, however, he had created this one himself with a fantastic piece of skill that took out two defenders. This resulted in a chance from a volley, but he put too much power on it as it went over the goal.

The crowd in Enschede was already not pleased with the referee’s performance, and he almost made the fans even angrier when he awarded the Italian team a penalty in the 74th minute. Mees Hilgers was whistled for fouling Taty Castellanos, but the defender instantly made the gesture of VAR while saying that he had only won the ball. This proved to be the case, as the penalty was canceled.

With the match still only 0-1, Twente decided to go on the attack in the closing stages to try and force a draw. But this was punished quite quickly as Lazio got their second of the game. Fisayo Dele-Bashiru was found behind the Twente defence by Pedro, and he dribbled as far as he could before playing the ball across to Gustav Isaksen, who converted the chance to put the game to bed.

This was Twente’s first loss in this season’s Europa League, but they are also still winless. They have a chance to rectify this when they face OGC Nice in two weeks. The French team also has a record of two draws and one loss, having lost to Ferencvaros on the same evening.