A scrappy opening from both sides didn’t really conjure up any goalscoring chances of note, with Nico Paz’s ball into the Fiorentina box after only 44 seconds causing the most confusion in the early stages.
Jack Harrison’s wayward effort was as good as it got for La Viola in the opening 20 minutes, while Paz fired straight at David de Gea when well placed at the other end.
As the half-hour approached, some great footwork by Fiorentina’s Fabiano Parisi got him into the area before his shot was barely cleared by Como’s Marc-Oliver Kempf. The ball out only found Nicolo Fagioli, and he made no mistake with a low shot past Jean Butez at the second attempt to give the visitors a surprise lead.
In keeping with the rest of the half, there was lots of huff and puff, but little in the way of goalmouth action.
Just one shot on target each at the break told its own story, yet Fiorentina were on the front foot immediately from the restart, and their pressure was rewarded when Rolando Mandragora was felled in the area by Maximo Perrone. Moise Kean stepped up and fired a wonderful spot-kick into the roof of the net, silencing the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia in the process.
That appeared to, belatedly, spark the hosts into life, with Martin Baturina going close immediately afterwards.
After a goalmouth scramble, Como’s Kempf couldn’t connect with the ball despite being just a yard out.
The Lariani’s pressure intensified, and with 13’ to play and the game heating up nicely, Fiorentina’s Parisi stuck out a leg to clear a simple cross, but instead volleyed high into his own net.
Second-half Como substitute Alvaro Morata was sent off in the final minutes as the game descended into a hard-fought battle, but Como’s revival ultimately arrived too late, and meant that they were unable to win a third successive Serie A H2H against Fiorentina for the first time since 1950.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Marco Brescianini (Fiorentina)
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