Como beat Sassuolo 2-0 at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on Saturday, and the result was shaped almost entirely by a twelve-minute spell after the break in which Como forward Anastasios Douvikas scored twice without reply.
The first half ended goalless, and Fà bregas's Como made three substitutions at the interval — Jacobo Ramón Naveros on for Willy Kambwala Ndengushi, Luis Milla on for Samuele Ricci, and Jayden Addai on for Martin Baturina. The scale of that reshuffle was unusual, and whatever its cause, the effect was immediate. Four minutes into the second half, at 49', Douvikas converted with Maxence Caqueret providing the assist to give Como the opener. The lead was doubled at 60', Douvikas again, this time assisted by Como defender Kaiki. Two goals, two assists from different teammates, eleven minutes of football: the match was settled before Aquilani's Sassuolo had completed their own triple substitution at 62'.
Douvikas is the player this match will be remembered for. The Como striker scored both goals — the opener and the decisive goal — and did so in an eleven-minute window that left Sassuolo no time to reorganise before the game had effectively closed. What makes the brace more than a statistical footnote is the context in which it arrives: Como had taken three wins, one draw, and one defeat from their last five matches coming into this fixture, and this result extends their unbeaten run across their last three to two wins and a draw. Douvikas's double was not an isolated flash; it was consistent with a team that has been building something coherent through October.
Sassuolo's problems were structural before a ball was kicked. Aquilani's side arrived at the Sinigaglia having collected just one point from their previous three matches, with four goals scored and seven conceded across that run. The 4-2 defeat at Frosinone eight days earlier had already exposed a defensive fragility that Como's second-half pressure duly punished again. Sassuolo's triple substitution at 62' — Luca Lipani for Nemanja Matić, Josh Doig for Rafael Obrador, and Armand Laurienté for BenjamÃn DomÃnguez — came two goals down and two minutes after Douvikas had already made the scoreline comfortable. Domenico Berardi collected a yellow card at 63', was replaced by Cristian Volpato at 74', and Sassuolo's afternoon ended with Van der Brempt booked at 87'. Two yellows, no goals: the regret is theirs, and it is not a new one.
The table data available here confirms Como entered this match fifth with 14 points from seven games, whilst Sassuolo sat thirteenth on eight. The win moves Como's last-three form to two wins and a draw, with five goals scored and one conceded across those three fixtures — a defensive record that reflects a team increasingly difficult to break down at home. Sassuolo's last-three record, now including this defeat, reads no wins, one draw, and two losses, with three goals scored and seven conceded. The trajectory for Aquilani's side points in one direction, and it is not upward.
A striker who scored twice in eleven second-half minutes, three substitutions at half-time that changed the match's character entirely: Como's afternoon at the Sinigaglia was more controlled than the scoreline's timing suggests.