The context first: this happened in the UEFA Nations League, Group A4, Norway against Portugal at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo on September 27. Portugal won 2-1. It was Norway's second group game, after they'd beaten Denmark 3-2 three days earlier.
It should have been red, and it isn't close.
Silva came on as a substitute and went through Ødegaard's ankle in stoppage time, long after the ball had gone, with Portugal already up 2-1. The ball was long gone, and the game was already won. He left his foot on an opponent's ankle when it could serve no footballing purpose at all, exactly the kind of act the laws exist to punish with a red card. The referee reached for yellow instead, and that was soft.
The Norway captain left the pitch limping. He stayed back in the middle circle rather than pushing up for a late corner because his ankle wasn't right, and he was still limping as he left the stadium. Ødegaard's own read on it was blunt. He told TV2 the challenge was "senseless" and came long after he'd passed the ball, that it had no place on a football pitch, and he called Silva's conduct "brainless." His teammate Patrick Berg went harder: "ugly," "a deliberate tackle where he simply kicks him," "completely unnecessary," adding that "it looked like Martín was in quite a bit of pain."
Intent is hard to prove from one incident; you can't crawl inside a player's head from a single freeze-frame. But red cards for late, dangerous contact have never required a confession. You judge the act: where the ball was, where the boot went, how much football was left to play for. This fails on all three. Catch a man's ankle with the ball nowhere near and the scoreboard already settled, and the referee doesn't owe him the benefit of the doubt.
Portugal's camp treated it like nothing, which is exactly the problem. One teammate called it "part of the game." Gonçalo Ramos waved it away as "a bit exaggerated, but, unfortunately, referees can't see everything," and "the type of thing that happens in every game." That's not true. A late kick with the ball nowhere near and the game already decided almost never happens. This was a squad protecting its own.
The injury looks survivable, at least. Ødegaard said, "I took a hit on the ankle. It probably won't feel good tonight, but I hope it gets better in the next few days." That's a mercy for Norway and for Arsenal, who watched their captain get kicked while wearing another crest. It changes nothing about the card.
This falls on one man. Ødegaard did nothing but pass the ball, and there was no murky 50/50 for the referee to sort through. Bernardo Silva swung the boot. Silva, with six Premier League titles and a Champions League across nine years at Manchester City, now at Real Madrid after his free transfer in June, had far too much quality to need any of this. He chose to end the night by going through an ankle that had already given up the ball.
He got a yellow. He deserved red.
