Como beats Parma in a match of control and nerves

Como needed just 22 minutes to take control of the match and nearly three hours of nerves to close it out. At the Giuseppe Sinigaglia, the home side ended up winning 2-1 over Parma, though the visitors' goal came so late, in the 91st minute, that it forced the hosts to hold on until the final whistle to avoid seeing a lead slip away that, for much of the game, had looked far more comfortable than the scoreline suggested.

Como's dominance was clear from the opening whistle. With Nico Paz pulling the strings and creating constant danger from the right flank, the home side racked up chances before the opener arrived: Marc Oliver Kempf, Máximo Perrone and Moise Kean had already tried their luck when, in the 22nd minute, Jacobo Ramón connected with a close-range right-footed finish to make it 1-0, on a play that began from a corner kick and was set up by Nico Paz himself.

Parma, for its part, barely threatened in the first half. Bilal Touré tested the keeper from distance early on and Mandela Keita had a wayward attempt, but the visitors spent more time containing Como than creating danger of their own. Simone Lontani came close to equalizing before the break with a header that clipped the crossbar, but the first half ended with Como in front.

The second goal and the late scare

The second half followed the same script: Como with the ball and the better chances, Parma looking for something on the counter. David Romero, who had come on in the second half, began to cause problems for the visitors with a shot that struck the post in the 66th minute and two further attempts that were saved. Como, however, found the clincher in the 82nd minute: Kaiki finished with his left foot from the center of the box, after an assist from Máximo Perrone, making it 2-0 and seemingly putting the match away.

It wasn't quite settled. Deep into stoppage time, in the 91st minute, David Romero popped up again to pull one back with a low shot just inside the left post, assisted by Pontus Almqvist, making it a final 2-1 that came too late for Parma but gave the scoreline a bit more respectability.

A dominance the numbers confirm

The match stats leave no doubt about who carried the weight of the game. Como controlled possession, doubled up on shots and created considerably more clear-cut chances than its rival.

The expected-goals estimate calculated after the fact from the match's shots also backs up that superiority: 3.585 for Como against 1.636 for Parma, a gap that suggests the final score could have been even more lopsided if not for the saves and missed chances that piled up, especially in the first half.

Before kickoff, the published preview had projected a 71% chance of a Como win, a 21% chance of a draw and just 8% for Parma, with expected goals of 1.99 for the hosts and 0.53 for the visitors. The outcome ended up matching that forecast: a Como win, though Romero's stoppage-time goal pushed the final score above what had been projected for Parma.

What it means in the standings

In the Serie A table, Como came into this match in second place with 10 points from 4 games played, while Parma sat 17th with just 1 point from the same number of matches. The points gap between the two sides before this result stood at 9, and Sunday's win confirms just how far apart the two clubs are at this early stage of the season.