Frosinone 2-0 Como: Calo and Kvernadze end Como's five-game unbeaten run

Como had won four matches in a row across two competitions coming into this one — Napoli, Genoa and Parma in Serie A, plus a 4-1 win over RB Leipzig in their Champions League debut. Frosinone ended that run in style. Guido Calo opened the scoring after 14 minutes, and Giorgi Kvernadze doubled it in first-half stoppage time, and Como never really threatened a way back at the Stirpe.

A first loss since the opening day

Cesc Fàbregas's side had not lost in Serie A all season — a draw at Udinese on the opening day, then wins over Napoli, Genoa and Parma — and had added a Champions League win over RB Leipzig to that run along the way. Two goals in the opening 45 minutes was enough to stop it here, with Frosinone's own recent form (two wins and a draw in their previous three) suggesting this was no fluke.

Two different roads to the same points tally

Frosinone's five matchdays have zig-zagged rather than climbed in a straight line: an opening 0-1 home defeat to Juventus on 23 August, then back-to-back wins — 3-0 away at Fiorentina on 29 August and 3-2 at home to Venezia on 6 September — before a 1-1 draw away at Genoa on 12 September set up Sunday's 2-0 win over Como. Three wins, a draw and a loss from five games have been enough to put the promoted side fourth, level on points with Juventus.

Como's route to the same ten points looked steadier until this result broke it. A 1-1 draw away at Udinese on the opening day was followed by four straight wins across two competitions — 2-1 at Napoli, 4-1 at Genoa, a 4-1 Champions League debut win over RB Leipzig, and 2-1 at home to Parma — before Frosinone ended the run at the Stirpe. Sunday's defeat is still Como's only loss of the season in any competition.

Kvernadze's goal was his second in as many matchdays: he also scored Frosinone's opener in the 1-1 draw at Genoa the previous week, converting a Romano Schmid assist in an almost identical fashion to how he finished this one. Two goals in two matches puts him alongside Antonio Raimondo, whose early-season brace against Venezia had been the team's standout individual contribution before Kvernadze's own run started.

Line-ups

Where the table stands

The gap at the top of Serie A is still thin. Roma and Inter lead on 13 points apiece, AC Milan sit third on 11, and Frosinone's 10 points — the same tally as Juventus, Lazio and Como — are enough to hold fourth because their plus-five goal difference is the best of that group; Juventus and Lazio sit on plus four, Como on plus three. That three-goal gap in goal difference is exactly what separates Frosinone and Como in the table despite their identical points total, and Sunday's 2-0 scoreline is now part of it, having widened Frosinone's differential by two and narrowed Como's by the same amount.

What's next

Frosinone move into the Champions League places heading into the international break, level on points with Juventus and Lazio just below them. Como stay level on points too, just outside the top four on goal difference, with a Champions League return to look forward to once the domestic season resumes.