Como vs Venezia 1-0

Como beat Venezia 1-0 at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, with Lucas Da Cunha’s penalty in the 43rd minute settling it after VAR had already ruled out a Venezia spot-kick.

The first half turned on two moments. In the 28th minute, VAR overturned a penalty for Venezia after Simon Sohm’s initial award was cancelled, and Como then went ahead on 43 minutes when Da Cunha converted from the spot to make it 1-0. The half-time score was Como 1-0 Venezia.

Venezia made two changes on 55 minutes and another two on 62, but Como kept the lead intact. The home side also made two changes together on 73 minutes, with Nico Paz and Da Cunha going off as Maxence Caqueret and Mattia Liberali came on, and they later brought on Maximo Perrone, Ivan Smolcic and Álex Valle to close it out. Venezia never found the equaliser, with their best chance already gone before the break.

The numbers backed Como’s control of the match. They had 66% possession, 718 passes and 1.63 expected goals, compared with Venezia’s 34%, 375 passes and 0.21 xG. Como also had 19 shots to 7, 4 on target to 1, 8 corners to 1 and only 1 offside, while Venezia were caught offside 3 times and finished with 3 saves to Como’s 1.

Discipline was tight enough to matter. Venezia’s Simon Sohm was booked in the 39th minute before his penalty was cancelled at 28, and Juan Jesus was yellow-carded in the 41st. Como’s only booking went to Kaiki Bruno in the 86th minute.