The Stadio Olimpico in Rome (file photo)
International Football

Lazio 2-1 Cagliari: Isaksen and Pinamonti turn it around after Nzola's early strike

M'Bala Nzola put Cagliari ahead inside twenty minutes, but Gustav Isaksen levelled before half-time and Andrea Pinamonti's header won it as Lazio made it six straight league wins, 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico.

By Guriball Newsroom · November 01, 2026 · 4 min read · Edited by Victor Sismotto

Cagliari had the perfect start and nothing to show for it by full time. M'Bala Nzola put the visitors ahead inside twenty minutes at the Olimpico, finishing off a move started by Alieu Fadera, but Lazio needed only sixteen more minutes to level through Gustav Isaksen and eventually turned the game with a second-half header from substitute Andrea Pinamonti.

The second half belonged almost entirely to the home side. Lazio had 73.7% of the possession across the full ninety minutes and completed 658 of 746 passes, a rate Cagliari, with 195 attempted passes fewer, were never going to match. Pinamonti's header on 83 minutes, set up by fellow substitute Alfonso Pedraza, proved decisive, and Cagliari's afternoon ended as it threatened to for a while: with ten men, after Adam Obert's stoppage-time red card capped a game in which the visitors picked up three other bookings and committed 18 fouls to the home side's seven.

A sixth straight win

Lazio remain unbeaten in Serie A this season. They had won five in a row going into this match, a run that included a 3-0 win at Juventus and a 6-2 demolition of Sassuolo, with their only dropped points all season a draw against AC Milan in September. Saturday's win made it six straight victories and ten matches without defeat.

Nzola, on the move again

Nzola's goal continued a productive start for a striker who has barely stood still over the past eighteen months. The Angola international joined Cagliari permanently from Fiorentina on 1 September 2026, signing a contract to June 2027, after a 2025-26 season that took him from a loan at Pisa back to Fiorentina and then to Sassuolo. For a player who has rarely stayed in one place for long, scoring against the league leaders is a reminder of why Cagliari went after him.

What's next

Lazio had gone into the game top on 25 points from nine matches; the win takes them to 28 points from ten. Cagliari had gone in 11th on 13 points from nine matches and stay on 13 after the defeat.

StatLazioCagliari
Possession73.7%26.3%
Shots on target43
Passes completed658/746 (88.2%)195/263 (74.1%)
Corners22
Fouls conceded718
Offsides32
Yellow cards12
Red cards01

Match facts

  • 20' — M'Bala Nzola (Cagliari), assisted by Alieu Fadera
  • 36' — Gustav Isaksen (Lazio), assisted by Tijjani Noslin
  • 83' — Andrea Pinamonti (Lazio), header, assisted by Alfonso Pedraza
  • 90'+1 — Adam Obert (Cagliari) sent off

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