Like many Norwegian football fans, the man from southern Norway had a hard time watching the league title vanish for Kristiansand club Start after a controversial refereeing decision in the closing minutes of the last game of the season.
When the man's favorite English club, Manchester United, was humiliated by Middlesbrough later in the day, the man felt compelled to set fire to the local police office, newspaper Agderposten reports.
"I have never heard such a strange explanation. The losses were just too much for him," police officer Øystein Krogstad told Agderposten.
The 20-year-old man set Krogstad's office on fire as Sunday dawned, and only a quick reaction from a chance passerby prevented the wooden building from being consumed by flames. The man confessed when police checked him out as a possible suspect, and he is now charged with malicious mischief.
Officer Krogstad, who shares the Norwegian passion for domestic and English football, was not without sympathy.
"Start and United are also my two favorite teams, so I can understand his disappointment. But I have absolutely no sympathy for football being so important that someone can take such drastic action in pure frustration over a defeat," Krogstad told Agderposten.
