Lucas Da Cunha's first-half penalty gave Como a narrow 1-0 win over bottom side Venezia at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on Sunday, lifting Cesc Fabregas' side to fourth in Serie A and extending the best start in the club's history.
Como dominated from the start, holding 76 per cent of the ball in the opening 18 minutes, but Venezia's five-man defence made them work for every opening. Kaiki headed over from a Luis Milla corner, Tasos Douvikas had a shot blocked after a Nico Paz through ball, and Martin Baturina blazed over from the edge of the box.
A Tale of Two Penalties
The game turned on two penalty decisions at opposite ends. Venezia thought they had a spot kick on 28 minutes when Milla was penalised for handball, but after an on-field review referee Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi overturned her own decision — a VAR reprieve Como made count, as Italia reported in its full match report.
At the other end there was no reprieve. Juan Jesus slid in on Douvikas inside the box, was booked for the challenge, and Da Cunha sent a left-footed penalty into the top-left corner on 43 minutes. It was a lead Como's pressure had earned: Filip Stankovic had already denied Da Cunha's low drive and produced a superb reflex save from Marc-Oliver Kempf before the breakthrough. The Mole match record confirms the 1-0 half-time and full-time scoreline.
Stankovic Keeps Venezia in It
Venezia almost levelled before the break, Thórir Helgason firing just past the far post, and after the restart it was Stankovic who kept the contest alive, tipping away Baturina's curling effort after the Croatian had danced past several challenges.
Davide Nicola's changes livened the visitors up — John Yeboah went close twice from distance and Kike Perez fired high and wide — while Yan Couto dragged Como's best chance to settle it just wide at the other end. Venezia's only effort on target all afternoon came in stoppage time, a long-range Tomas Basic shot that did not trouble Jean Butez.
The result follows Como's earlier statement win over Sassuolo and another big scoreline elsewhere in Serie A this weekend, Roma's 5-2 win at Udinese, underlining how crowded the race at the top has become.
So What Does It Mean?
Como move to 23 points from 10 games — seven wins, two draws and just one defeat — and into fourth place, a remarkable position for a side enjoying the best start in its history. The test now comes quickly: Fabregas takes his team to Lens in the Champions League on Wednesday, without the injured Moise Kean, who faces around five weeks out.
For Venezia the numbers are brutal. They stay bottom on three points from 10 games, with nine defeats, and Nicola's early lift — a win over Napoli in his first game in charge — has faded into losses to Genoa, Inter and now Como. Moral performances against good sides earn nothing in a relegation fight.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This is what a serious team looks like — not the routs, but the patience to win 1-0 against a packed defence on a Sunday lunchtime, four days after winning in Turin. Fabregas has built a side that finds a way. If Como are still fourth when the Champions League nights bite in December, nobody in Italy will be calling it a fluke any more.
Can Como really finish in the Champions League places this season? Let us know in the comments.
