Pre-match
Neither side sprung any major surprises with the lineup. Como had just come off 120 tough minutes against Napoli in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday but Cesc Fabregas fielded something close to his strongest XI. Paolo Vanoli was missing Robin Gosens through injury, forcing him to drop Fabiano Parisi in at leftback and bring Jack Harrison into the starting lineup with Albert Guðmundsson injured. Luca Ranieri also made his first Serie A start in over a month after a string of subpar performances from Pietro
Comuzzo. As a reminder, the Viola traveling support remains banned until the end of the Serie A season.
First half
As we’ve seen in the two previous meetings, Fiorentina started out pretty well against Serie A’s darlings, dropping deep and making themselves fairly difficult to play through, although the surface at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia was awful: players were constantly slipping over. Maybe that’s why the Viola got about 4 lucky bounces en route to Nicolò Fagioli’s well-taken opener. Parisi’s pass came back to him, giving him space to drive into the Como box, and then Fagioli’s shot returned to him as well, setting him up for a 1-v-1 finish past Jean Butez.
Como responded decently with Nico Paz putting a cross into the side netting moments after the goal but Fiorentina dropped deep and mostly frustrated the hosts, who didn’t muster much of a response. Indeed, they kept the ball in the Viola half but couldn’t unlock a stubborn and energetic defense that occasionally sprung into action on the counter, although Harrison seemed to kill every move. The Lariani huffed and puffed but never really put a scare into Fiorentina’s deep block. It was a half low on quality—just 2 total shots on frame—but the visitors weren’t complaining.
Second half
It took a superb Marin Pongračić intervention in his own 6-yard box moments after the restart to keep Fiorentina in it but the visitors hung on and indeed did more than hang on, springing a couple dangerous counterattacks. On one of them, Rolando Mandragora tiptoed into the box and, as soon as he felt Maximo Perrone’s foot on his shin, went over. It was soft, yeah, but sticking out a toe like that has resulted in a penalty for the past couple decades. Moise Kean stepped up and buried the spot kick with aplomb.
Como put the Viola box under siege but failed to break through. In the aftermath of Jesús Rodríguez going down under what replay proved to be some innocuous pressure from Harrison, Fabregas got pretty heated but Marchetti somehow ended up red carding Vanoli instead. Even without the mister, though, the defense held up pretty well as the hosts threw the kitchen sink. Unfortunately, the Idiot Fiorentina Defender Tax hadn’t been collected and it fell to the otherwise excellent Parisi to pay. To his credit, it was a very good volley.
Como threw everything at the Viola after that but couldn’t find a way through and instead got increasingly frustrated, especially as Fiorentina began wasting time at every opportunity and in every conceivable way, turning the final 10 minutes into a ridiculous slog that was more argument than game. Parisi was the main culprit and eventually his sneaky little shove on Álvaro Morata prompted a headbutt in retaliation; both were booked but it was the Spaniard’s second card and off he went. Now a man down, Como hurled bodies into the box but Fiorentina did just enough to hang on for a highly unexpected win against Serie A’s sweethearts.
Full time
Goals: Parisi OG 78’; Fagioli 26’, Kean PK 54’
Cards: Kempf 49’, Rodríguez 82’ Morata 88’ 89 (sent off)’; Vanoli red card 70’ (lol), Mandragora 88’, Ranieri 90’+3
What we learned
-Maybe the orange uniforms aren’t the harbingers of doom but they sure are ugly.
-We’ve criticized Fiorentina’s defenders all year and they deserve that because they’ve been awful. Today, though, they were excellent. Marin Pongračić was everywhere, dominating Tasos Douvickas and imposing himself on Morata, including one hilarious episode in which he straddled the prone striker for about half a minute, shrugging, before getting up and letting his thrashing opponent stand up. Ranieri was solid too but provided an emotional boost, constantly encouraging his teammates in a way nobody else on the roster does as well as shithousing with the best of them.
-Como is the most 2026 mid-table Premier League team in Serie A and I find them almost intolerable. Very fun team to beat.
-Kean plays too much on the shoulder of the last defender. He’s got nuclear pace in behind but he’s also a monster holding up play. I think he’s too focused on running over the top this year and not enough on playing with his back to goal, which provides a necessary outlet for his team as well putting opposing defenders at risk of cards. It also gets him more touches, helping him find a rhythm.
-Parisi didn’t deserve the own goal as he’d been Fiorentina’s best player until then. His pace and directness caused Como all sorts of problems. He also loves nothing more than stirring the pot.
-For the first time this season, Fiorentina played like a relegation candidate, and I mean that as a compliment. Gone was the entitlement, replaced by the desperate dirtiness you expect from a team that’ll give anything to stay in the top flight. It’s a bit of a fluke result but, if the Viola do the unthinkable and stick in Serie A, my guess is that we’ll look back to this game as the moment they figured it out.
What’s next
Despite the 3 points, Fiorentina remains locked into 18th place and is still in the drop zone based on its head-to-head record against Lecce, who’s also on 21 points pending Mondays’ game against Cagliari. Things only get trickier from here, too: Thursday is the long journey to Jagiellonia Białystok in the Conference League, then what promises to be the most intense Tuscan derby in recent memory against Pisa, then the return leg against the Poles, and then the always-tricky trip to Udinese. But hey, at least Fiorentina’s earned its first win in a month.
