Como were drawn to play Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, and Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, a far cry from the Serie B days they were enduring just two years ago.
This encounter, therefore, was a chance to show their upcoming European rivals they mean business by taking the scalp of one of Italy’s leading sides, and they were clearly the better team in the opening half-hour.
While Napoli’s Mathias Oliveira had the game’s first shot, it was never testing Jean Butez, and the visitors were soon putting their opponents under pressure.
In fact, they needed just over 15 minutes to break the deadlock, and the impressive Martin Baturina was the goalscorer, receiving Assane Diao’s low cross on the turn before burying the ball beyond Alex Meret.
The hosts should have been level almost immediately through Noa Lang, but he could only head over the bar when unmarked, although they did eventually equalise around the half-hour mark courtesy of Rasmus Hojlund’s low drive from outside the box.
However, that only seemed to spark Como into life, and they soon restored their advantage when Anastasios Douvikas fired into the bottom corner.
Had it not been for Meret on the brink of half-time, Napoli would have been further behind, but he produced crucial stops to thwart Baturina and Nico Paz headers.
Chances were few and far between initially at the start of the second period. The best opportunity fell to Oliveira, who really should have done better with a volley inside the area.
Both teams found themselves in promising positions on occasion, but they ultimately lacked the same cutting edge in the final third that was seen before the interval. Kevin De Bruyne did go close from distance, but Butez probably had it covered had it been on target.
Substitute Alisson Santos was presented with a good opportunity in the final 10 minutes, yet curled over the bar. And Napoli thought they had equalised late on through Stanislav Lobotka, but the goal was ruled out for offside to end the celebrations.
As such, Como leave Naples with all three points, and are now unbeaten in four league head-to-heads.
Meanwhile, Massimiliano Allegri suffers his first competitive defeat since taking the head coaching job in the summer, and have now lost three of their past five Serie A home games.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Martin Baturina (Como)