Como pulled off one of the early upsets of the Serie A season, defeating Napoli 2-1 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Saturday evening. Goals from Martin Baturina and Tasos Douvikas either side of a Rasmus Hojlund equaliser handed Cesc Fabregas a statement victory over his former touchline rival Massimiliano Allegri.
The pre-match narrative centred on the renewed rivalry between the two managers, who clashed heatedly both on the touchline and in the press room last season. Before kick-off, Fabregas and Allegri shared a brief hug — but any pretence of cordiality ended once the whistle blew.
Napoli, who opened their campaign with a 2-0 win over Genoa, made two changes: Matías Olivera and Noa Lang replaced Leonardo Spinazzola and Alisson Santos, the latter having been transfer-listed. Kevin De Bruyne remained on the bench with fitness concerns, while Alessandro Buongiorno and Luca Marianucci were absent through injury.
Como, who drew 1-1 with Udinese on matchday one, lined up with summer signings Trevoh Chalobah, Yan Couto, Bruno Kaiki and Luis Milla. Assane Diao provided the creativity down the right flank, and it was his low cross that set up the opener on 16 minutes. Baturina collected the ball with a sharp touch, spun away from his marker, and drilled a left-footed shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Napoli's equaliser arrived on the half-hour mark. Hojlund gathered a pass from Amir Rrahmani on the edge of the area, turned, and fired through a crowd of bodies into the bottom corner. Noa Lang had squandered a free header from a Matteo Politano cross moments earlier, and the Italian side briefly looked like they had seized momentum.
That momentum lasted barely four minutes. Anguissa's clumsy back-pass to Rrahmani was intercepted by Baturina, who squared for Douvikas to tap into an empty net from close range. The Greek striker's composed finish restored Como's lead and sent the away contingent into raptures.
Allegri introduced De Bruyne, Alisson Santos and Spinazzola at half-time, and Napoli pressed for an equaliser. De Bruyne's header was cleared off the line by Smolcic, and both he and Alisson Santos went close in the second half. But Butez in the Como goal was alert to every danger, and the visitors' defensive organisation held firm.
In the final minutes, Lobotka had the ball in the net from a set piece, but the goal was disallowed for Lucca's offside in the build-up. The final whistle confirmed a famous result for Fabregas, whose Como side showed tactical maturity and clinical finishing to humble one of the title favourites on their own turf.
The result leaves Napoli with just three points from two matches under Allegri, raising early questions about the tactical direction of his tenure. For Fabregas and Como, it was a performance that announced their ambitions for the season ahead.
Sources
- https://football-italia.net/serie-a-napoli-1-2-como-fabregas-earns-victory/
- https://en.legaseriea.it/videos/highlights/serie-a-2026-2027-napoli-como
